Facebook earning report fails to wow investors

Facebook released an unexciting earnings report Thursday, it’s first since the company went public in a rocky debut in May.

The company said it took a net loss overall of $157 million, or 8 cents per share in the second quarter, reports the Associated Press. Adjusted earnings of $295 million, or 12 cents per share, mirrored Wall Street's expectations. The loss was mainly due to $1.3 billion in compensation expenses following its much-hyped IPO. Facebook Inc. earned $240 million in the same quarter last year.

The figures were disappointing to investors who expected a bigger splash from the fast-growing social network company. "They didn't break any banks," said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at research firm eMarketer, told the Associated Press. "They did not come out any better than anybody had expected."

Forbes reports that investors immediately dropped shares in the company, which fell by 8 percent in after hours trading. Facebook shares are expected to open at their lowest level yet Friday morning and will likely end up being valued about 30 percent less than when the company went public two months ago.

"Our goal is to help every person stay connected and every product they use be a great social experience," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a release. "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."

CNN Money reports that Facebook and its CEO have been criticized for failing to adapt to the growing shift among its users who tend to prefer mobile access.
The public does not seem to be faulting Facebook for its failure to wow investors. 955 million active users log onto the social network monthly, up 29 percent from last year.