Facebook: Business Details, Marketing Strategies And Analysis
Company information:
Company name Facebook
Founder(s) Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes
Founded 04.02.2004
Sector Internet (Social networking service)
IPO date Friday, 18.05.2012
Location Menlo Park, California, US
Fundamentals and financials:
Market cup $498.5 billion
Revenue $33.17 billion
Employees 2-658
Revenue/employee $1.606 million
Net income $13.61 billion
Shares outstanding 2.904 billion
Annual earnings/share $4.72
P/E ratio 36.36
Company management: Jan Koum (Director and Chief Executive Officer, WhatsApp Inc.), Mark Zuckerberg (Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer)
Facebook is one of the most popular sites, and for a good reason, it allows people to connect with their friends and family, share interesting information and gives ample room for expression.
Facebook (the company) manages and develops personal applications and maintains services for an enormous number of users.
The idea of this social platform was conceived by Mark Zuckerberg during his time as a Harvard undergraduate, in 2003. As a business entity, however, the company appeared in early 2004.
It was initially a networking platform for college students, but it has grown considerably since then and increased both in scope and profitability.
Friends Day 2017 Commercial (source – YouTube)
More general information on the company below.
Financial Data
As Mark Zuckerberg himself put it, “Our business did well in 2016, but we have a lot of work ahead to help bring people together.”
This statement puts it quite succinctly – the company is nowhere near done and still has a lot of room for growth which is facilitated by increasing revenues from advertisers who chose this social network as their main marketing channel. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. However, the service offers highly selective marketing options.
Without further ado, here’s a sneak peek at the ‘16 income statement:
Total revenue figure for 2016 is $27.64 billion, while gross profit is at $23.85 billion. Mobile advertising represented 84% of all income.
Total assets are estimated to be around $65 billion, while liabilities and stockholders’ equities are practically the same.
Capital expenses reached $4.49 billion.
More financials can be found in the following materials.
Marketing
“Bring the world closer together.”
Needless to say, the company doesn’t need to market itself. In fact, individuals and businesses come to it to market.
1.87 billion active users visit Facebook on a monthly basis, and an average of 1.23 billion people have used the site daily, which is an 18% improvement over the previous year.
More on marketing below.
Structure ; Operations
20,658 people are currently employed at Facebook. Some of the major subsidiaries include Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus Rift. There are many more business entities Facebook has merged with or acquired.
How does this massive company manage its day-to-day operations?
Let’s find out with this list of related essays.
Analysis
Given the scope of operations, it’s natural to assume that the company undergoes through a multitude of challenges and
To put it simply, the social network is mainly preferred in English-speaking countries, which inhibits operations in a variety of regions. The company struggles to enter markets which are already saturated with local social networks. Japan and CIS countries, for example, have regional equivalents which are far more popular in their respective regions.
Nevertheless, Facebook is a goldmine of business insight. Analyzing it will definitely offer an extensive look into how large social media networks need to function in order to turn a profit.
Nonetheless, Facebook is here to stay. It is a site that will never diminish, neither domestically nor internationally, and will only improve in the coming years through future acquisitions and intelligent business strategies.
