Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook continues to see users migrate to mobile faster than it can turn them into gold.
The company admitted as much yesterday when it said daily usage outpaced advertising growth in the first half of the second quarter.
Facebook, in a regulatory filing, blamed the inconsistency on the increase in mobile usage, where the company has yet to serve up a meaningful number of ads.
The Menlo Park, Calif., company also said the ad volume was being dictated by product decisions, and not motivated by the bottom line.
“We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered,” Facebook wrote in its amended prospectus being used to educate investors about the company.
Daily users were up 8.9 percent in the first quarter, to 526 million from 483 million in the prior quarter.
Ad revenue was down, to $872 million from $943 million.
Facebook filed the updated S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to answer questions raised by potential investors at its initial public offering road show.
Investors are wondering why the number of users continues to grow steadily, but ad revenue growth has been choppy.
The social network giant is expected to go public on May 18 at a value of up to $96 billion.
The $13 billion it expects to raise would be the largest tech IPO ever.
The mobile issue has become a hot topic on the road show, where investors are trying to get a handle on Facebook’s future, which is increasingly in smartphones and tablets.
A report from comScore earlier this week said that Facebook users are spending more minutes accessing the social network on mobile devices than they are on desktops.
Last month, Facebook spent $1 billion to buy one of its top mobile competitors, Instagram, a photo-sharing app. Facebook expects that deal to close this quarter.
Zuckerberg’s company has said since the first day it filed to go public that mobile is so far a weak spot in terms of revenue, citing it as one of its risk factors.
“Growth in use of Facebook through our mobile products, where our ability to monetize is unproven, as a substitute for use on personal computers may negatively affect our revenue and financial results,” the filing said.
Also on Facebook’s mobile front, the company yesterday announced a new App Center that will be available on Apple iOS and Google Android devices.
gsloane@nypost.com
Facebook, company, company, mobile devices, revenue growth, Mark Zuckerberg, online
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