The announcement came a day after Alphabet's Google said a drop in its online ad sales similarly steadied in April. Shares of Facebook, the world's biggest social network and the owner of WhatsApp and Instagram, soared 9% in extended trading. Revenue growth was 18% in the first quarter, Facebook's slowest ever by a wide margin, although it beat analysts' expectations for growth of 16%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Ad sales, which make up nearly all of Facebook's revenue, rose 17% to $17.44 billion. Some businesses took advantage of bargain pricing to run a heavier volume of ads after the pandemic wiped out Facebook ad pricing over the course of the quarter, contributing to a 39% increase in total ad impressions, executives said.

Source: bd News24 April 30, 2020 01:18 UTC