Facebook Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2014 Results

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2014.

"We got a lot done in 2014. Our community continues to grow and we're making progress towards connecting the world," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO.

 Full Year 2014 Business Highlights

• Revenue for the full year 2014 was $12.47 billion, an increase of 58% year-over-year.
• Income from operations for the full year 2014 was $4.99 billion.
• Net income for the full year 2014 was $2.94 billion.
• Free cash flow for the full year 2014 was $3.63 billion.
• Daily active users (DAUs) were 890 million on average for December 2014, an increase of 18% year-over-year.
• Mobile DAUs were 745 million on average for December 2014, an increase of 34% year-over-year.
• Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.39 billion as of December 31, 2014, an increase of 13% year-over-year.
• Mobile MAUs were 1.19 billion as of December 31, 2014, an increase of 26% year-over-year.

Fourth Quarter 2014 Financial Highlights

Revenue – Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2014 totaled $3.85 billion, an increase of 49%, compared with $2.59 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenue would have increased by 53%.

• Revenue from advertising was $3.59 billion, a 53% increase from the same quarter last year. Excluding the impact of year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates, revenue from advertising would have increased by 58%.
• Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 69% of advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2014, up from approximately 53% of advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013.
• Payments and other fees revenue was $257 million, a 7% increase from the same quarter last year.

Costs and expenses – GAAP costs and expenses for the fourth quarter of 2014 were $2.72 billion, an increase of 87% from the fourth quarter of 2013. Non-GAAP information for 2013 has been updated to exclude amortization of intangible assets to conform to our current period presentation. Excluding amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, non-GAAP costs and expenses were $1.63 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, up 50% compared to $1.09 billion for the fourth quarter of 2013.

Income from operations – GAAP income from operations for the fourth quarter of each of 2014 and 2013 was $1.13 billion. Excluding amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, non-GAAP income from operations for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $2.22 billion, up 48% compared to $1.50 billion for the fourth quarter of 2013.

Operating margin – GAAP operating margin was 29% for the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to 44% in the fourth quarter of 2013. Excluding amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, non-GAAP operating margin was 58% for the fourth quarter of each of 2014 and 2013.

Provision for income taxes – GAAP income tax expense for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $413 million, representing a 37% effective tax rate. Excluding amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, the non-GAAP effective tax rate would have been approximately 31%.

Net income and EPS – GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $701 million, up 34% compared to $523 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. Excluding amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, and income tax adjustments, non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $1.52 billion, up 86% compared to $814 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. GAAP diluted EPS was $0.25 in the fourth quarter of 2014, up 25% compared to $0.20 in the fourth quarter of 2013. Excluding amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses, and income tax adjustments, non-GAAP diluted EPS for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $0.54, up 69% compared to $0.32 in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2014 were $517 million.

Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $11.20 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014.

Free cash flow – Free cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $1.07 billion.

Webcast and Conference Call Information

Facebook will host a conference call to discuss the results at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET today. The live webcast of Facebook's earnings release call can be accessed at investor.fb.com, along with the earnings press release, financial tables and slide presentation. Facebook uses the investor.fb.com website and Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/zuck) as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.

Following the call, a replay will be available at the same website. A telephonic replay will be available for one week following the conference call at +1 (404) 537-3406 or +1 (855) 859-2056, conference ID 53903003.

About Facebook

Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.

Contacts

Investors:
Deborah Crawford
[email protected] / investor.fb.com

Press:
Vanessa Chan
[email protected] / newsroom.fb.com

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors including: our ability to retain or increase users and engagement levels; our reliance on advertising revenue; our ability to continue to monetize our mobile products; risks associated with new product development and their introduction as well as other new business initiatives; our emphasis on user growth and engagement and the user experience over short-term financial results; competition; litigation; privacy and regulatory concerns; risks associated with acquisitions; security breaches; and our ability to manage growth and geographically-dispersed operations. These and other potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted are more fully detailed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on October 30, 2014, which is available on our Investor Relations website at investor.fb.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. In addition, please note that the date of this press release is January 28, 2015, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, we use the following non-GAAP financial measures: revenue excluding foreign exchange effect and advertising revenue excluding foreign exchange effect; non-GAAP costs and expenses; non-GAAP income from operations; non-GAAP net income; non-GAAP diluted shares; non-GAAP diluted earnings per share; non-GAAP operating margin; non-GAAP effective tax rate; and free cash flow. The presentation of these financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. Investors are cautioned that there are material limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures as an analytical tool. In particular, many of the adjustments to our GAAP financial measures reflect the exclusion of items, specifically amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, and payroll tax related to share-based compensation expense, and the related income tax effects of the aforementioned exclusions, that are recurring and will be reflected in our financial results for the foreseeable future. In addition, these measures may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies, limiting their usefulness for comparison purposes. We compensate for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide investors with useful supplemental information about the financial performance of our business, enable comparison of financial results between periods where certain items may vary independent of business performance, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in operating our business.

We exclude the following items from one or more of our non-GAAP financial measures:

Amortization of intangible assets. We amortize intangible assets acquired in connection with acquisitions. We exclude these amortization expenses because we do not believe these expenses are reflective of ongoing operating results in the period. These amounts arise from our prior acquisitions and have no direct correlation to the operation of our business.

Share-based compensation expense. We exclude share-based compensation expense because we believe that the non-GAAP financial measures excluding this item provide meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance. In particular, because of varying available valuation methodologies, subjective assumptions and the variety of award types that companies can use under FASB ASC 718, we believe that providing non-GAAP financial measures that exclude this expense allows investors to make more meaningful comparisons between our operating results and those of other companies. Accordingly, we believe that excluding this expense provides investors and management with greater visibility to the underlying performance of our business operations, facilitates comparison of our results with other periods, and may also facilitate comparison with the results of other companies in our industry.

Payroll tax expense related to share-based compensation. We exclude payroll tax expense related to share-based compensation expense because, without excluding these tax expenses, investors would not see the full effect that excluding share-based compensation expense had on our operating results. These expenses are tied to the exercise or vesting of underlying equity awards and the price of our common stock at the time of vesting or exercise, which factors may vary from period to period independent of the operating performance of our business. Similar to share-based compensation expense, we believe that excluding this payroll tax expense provides investors and management with greater visibility to the underlying performance of our business operations and facilitates comparison with other periods as well as the results of other companies.

Income tax effect of amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation and related payroll tax expenses. We believe excluding the income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments assists investors and management in understanding the tax provision related to those adjustments and provides useful supplemental information regarding the underlying performance of our business operations.

Foreign exchange effect on revenue. We translate revenue for the three months and year ended December 31, 2014 using prior year exchange rates for our settlement currencies, which we believe is a useful metric that facilitates comparison to our historical performance.

Purchases of property and equipment; Property and equipment acquired under capital leases. We subtract both purchases of property and equipment and property and equipment acquired under capital leases in our calculation of free cash flow because we believe that these two items collectively represent the amount of property and equipment we need to procure to support our business, regardless of whether we finance such property or equipment with a capital lease. We believe that this methodology can provide useful supplemental information to help investors better understand underlying trends in our business.

For more information on our non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of such measures to the nearest GAAP measure, please see the "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Results to Nearest GAAP Measures" table in this press release.

* Non-GAAP information for the three months and year ended December 31, 2013 has been updated to exclude amortization of intangible assets to conform to our current period presentation.

SOURCE Facebook

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