Facebook Stock Gets a Boost, Thanks to Mobile Ads

Facebook finally has proof that it can make money from mobile advertising. As part of today's third-quarter results, the world's biggest social media company disclosed for the first time that some 14% of its ad revenue came from mobile advertising. It started showing ads to users who access Facebook from their phones and tablet computers about six months ago. "I want to dispel this myth that Facebook can't make money on mobile," said Mark Zuckerberg. "This may (have seemed) true earlier this year because we hadn't started trying yet."

Facebook's quarterly report sent its stock sharply higher in after-hours trading: It jumped $1.90, or 9.7%, to $21.40 after the announcement. The 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. But excluding special items, Facebook earned $311 million, or 12 cents per share, a penny better than what analysts were expecting. Revenue rose 32% to $1.26 billion from $954 million. That's also higher than the $1.23 billion that analysts had expected. (More Facebook stories.)