Publication date: 28 Jan 2021

Facebook, a social network, has recently published a financial report to represent 2020 outcomes.

• According to the report, total revenue, generated mostly in advertising, is $85.96 bn, which shows 21% growth in comparison to the previous period
• Net profit has risen by 58%, having reached $29.15 bn.
• With an overall amount of active users (daily 1.84 bn in December, 2020), a year increase is 11%. On average, 2.8 bn people have used Facebook (+12% year-over-year)
• In the fourth quarter, the total number of advertising displays continued to climb to reach, finally, 25%, as well as rates (5% rise) – owe to Facebook mobile feed and Instagram stories.

David Wehner, the Chief Financial Officer of Facebook, has reported two main factors, which the company has benefited from during the pandemic crises, such as predominance of on-line trading and trends in consumer demand (opting for goods and services). Mr. Wehner predicts the figures indicating incomes from advertising to edge up (slowly) in the first part of the year meanwhile, in the second part, they are going to grow swiftly. He also outlined other problems that will impact on Facebook in 2021:

• The transatlantic transfer of data is expected to change due to the regulations. Last summer, the Court imposed restrictions on data harvesting and transmission from Europe to the USA
• Considerable alteration in targeting – for iOS 14 new version in particular. According to some Apple new privacy schemes, app developers must not use any smartphone identifiers for advertising purposes on default.

And, finally, Facebook is setting up a new office in Turkey to meet new legislation requirements.