Facebook profits double

Facebook reported earnings of $2.9 billion (2.56 billion euros) for 2014, compared with $1.5 billion for the same period in 2013. Revenue jumped 58 percent to $12.8 billion. In the fourth quarter alone, the US-based social media company earned $701 million, up from 523 million in 2013.

In a statement released Wednesday, the company said it counted 1.39 billion monthly users worldwide, an increase of 13 percent from 2013. More and more of them were accessing the service via mobile devices, which had caused advertising sales for the fourth quarter to soar to $3.59 billion.

"Our community continues to grow and we're making progress toward connecting the world," Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.

Investing in Facebook mission

In 2014, the number of Facebook employees surged 45 percent causing costs and expenses at the social network to increase by 87 percent.

Zuckerberg told financial analysts the company was focused on serving the entire world and that that would require a lot of effort and investing for several years. He underscored that Facebook was a "mission-driven" company.

"If we were only focused on making money, we might put all our energy into ads for people in the US and other developed countries, but that is not just what we care about here," he said.

He reasoned that if Facebook becomes a main online platform in developing countries, the company would benefit over time as economies improve in those parts of the world.

Facebook is testing a lightweight version of its mobile app for mobile phones with poor-quality Internet connections in emerging markets. A spokesman for the company recently told the news agency AFP that the "Facebook Lite" Android app is designed "for people on 2G [second generation] connections or in areas of limited Internet accessibility."

uhe/ng (AFP, dpa, Reuters)