Facebook eyes $550m income

Fuelled by advertising and other revenue streams, Facebook has become "free cash flow positive" and by the end of the year, the overall Facebook revenue is likely to be above $550 million (Dh2,020m), according to industry estimates.

Last year, the company brought in a total of between $280m and $300m, and for its future plans, is looking beyond traditional social network banner advertising to grow revenue. Earlier, it said it was seeing 70 per cent revenue growth over the previous year. Apparently, the company has been experimenting and developing new forms of ads that rely on user data and behaviour — rather than the traditional impression-based model of most social network ads to date.

In the wake of this commercial stability incited by additional revenues from advertising, Facebook has established a dual-class stock structure to ensure voting control by existing owners, but has no plans to go public, it said.

"We did introduce a dual class stock structure because existing shareholders wanted to maintain control over voting on certain issues, to help ensure the company can continue to focus on the long term to build a great business," said Larry Yu, a Facebook spokesman.

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