NEW YORK -- Facebook is reporting a loss for its third quarter, though revenue rose by nearly a third. The results exceeded Wall Street's expectations.
The world's biggest social media company posted a loss of $59 million, or 2 cents per share, in the July-September period. That's down from earnings of $227 million, or 10 cents per share a year ago, when Facebook was still privately held.
Excluding special items, mainly related stock compensation expenses, Facebook earned $311 million, or 12 cents per share, in the latest quarter.
Revenue rose 32 per cent to $1.26 billion from $954 million.
Analysts had expected earnings of 11 cents per share on revenue of $1.23 billion, according to FactSet.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook's stock is up 90 cents, or 4.6 per cent, to $20.40 in after-hours trading.
