Facebook beats profit estimates, sets aside US$3 billion for privacy penalty

REUTERS: Facebook Inc on Wednesday blew away Wall Street profit estimates in the first quarter as it kept a lid on the costs of making its social networks safer, and set aside US$3 billion to cover a settlement with U.S. regulators, calming investors who had worried about the outcome of a months-long federal probe.Advertisement

If the settlement is in that range, it would be the largest civil penalty paid to the agency, said David Vladeck, a former FTC official now at Georgetown Law School. Total first-quarter revenue rose 26 percent to US$14.9 billion from US$12.0 billion last year, compared to analysts' average estimate of US$15.0 billion.

"This is a strong report suggesting that advertisers still see value in Facebook's platform, as they did before the controversies and scandals erupted," said Haris Anwar, senior analyst at financial markets platform Investing.com.

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