Facebook share price falls after Q2 results announcement

Facebook shares fell 11% in after-hours trading in to a record low of $23.94 after announcing its first financial results since listing on the New York stock exchange in May.

While the social network announced second quarter revenues of $1.18bn, up 32% on the same period a year ago, it also reported a $157m net income loss on payments to shareholders such as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

Second quarter costs and expenses nearly quadrupled, up 295% to $1.93bn from the same period the year before, but Facebook said this was driven primarily by "share-based compensation expense".

Analysts have attributed the gradual fall in share value ahead of the financial report to investor fears that Facebook could miss projections.

But after the announcement, which was ahead of market expectations, the value of Facebook shares continued to fall in after-hours trade.

Analysts have attributed this to the fact that results failed to quell investor concerns that Facebook will struggle to make a profit in a mobile world, according to the Guardian.

Facebook reported it had 955m monthly active users as of June 30, 2012, an increase of 29% year-over-year, and an average of 552 million active daily users, an increase of 32% year-over-year. The number of mobile users reached 543m, an increase of 67% year-over-year.

Analysts said the increase in mobile users could be a serious problem for Facebook if it fails to innovate fast enough to make that shift.

But Zuckerberg said in a statement: “Our goal is to help every person stay connected and every product they use be a great social experience. 

"That's why we're so focused on investing in our priorities of mobile, platform and social ads to help people have these experiences with their friends.”

In a conference call with analysts, Zuckerberg said Facebook's vision for the mobile platform is "bigger than most people perceive".

Facebook used its second quarter financial report to highlight the fact that several new mobile products had been launched during the quarter.

These include a new Facebook camera app for iPhone, an improved version of the mobile messenger app for both iOS and Android and several updates to the Facebook Android app.

The social network also launched the global App Center where users can find apps for mobile and web. Apple announced plans for a deep Facebook integration throughout the next version of Apple’s iOS and OSX.