Near tripling of the social media giant’s profits comes at a time when traditional news publishers are hemorrhaging ad dollars and announcing cutbacks. Facebook almost tripled its profits in the third quarter of 2016 as the social media giant took an even larger slice of the online advertising market. The company reported a 59% year-over-year increase in advertising revenue on Wednesday. Net income for the three months ending 30 September rose to $2.38bn from $896m a year earlier.
The jump in profits and revenues comes as traditional publishers are hemorrhaging advertising dollars and announcing cutbacks. News groups including the Daily Mail, the Guardian, New York Times and Wall Street Journal have all announced layoffs in recent weeks.
The US election was partly responsible for Facebook’s gains. “Facebook is the new town hall and we are proud of the role that we’ve played in increasing civic engagement,” chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg told investors during the company’s evening conference call.
