Facebook revenue exceeds $1B in first quarter, goes on patent shopping spree

Revealing documents filed by Facebook

Nearing what could be an approval of Facebook being publicly traded stock under the “FB” ticker, the company filed an amendment to its S-1 documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February to reflect their revenue and growth for the last quarter, and included the news of acquiring Instagram and purchasing bulk patents from Microsoft. Facebook’s valuation is now $100 billion and expects to raise $5 billion in its initial public offering (IPO).

As the company approaches a potential IPO date of May 17, Facebook’s amendment notes that monthly active users now total 901 million, up from 680 million last year and daily active users are reported to be 526 million, up from 372 million last year. Monthly mobile users total 488 million, according to Facebook’s amended S-1. Controversy over what Facebook considers an “active user” remains, however, so it is unclear as to whether this number continues to count users that do not log in to Facebook directly, rather visit a site that uses Facebook commenting or has other Facebook integration.

Also reported today, Facebook says 300 million photos are uploaded to the social network every day and 3.2 billion “likes” and comments are posted each day while 125 billion new friends connect daily.

Rising revenues, major acquisitions

Announced weeks ago, Facebook is in the process of acquiring photo-sharing app Instagram for $300 million in cash, plus 23 million shares of common stock, amounting to a $1 billion acquisition. The SEC filings note that if the Instagram deal fails to close, Facebook must pay $200 million.

Facebook reports revenue is on the rise, hitting $1.057 billion in the first quarter of this year, up from $731 million last year. Net income, however, dropped to $205 million for the quarter, down from $233 last year. As is traditional, Facebook updated their risk factors, adding an inherent risk being Facebook’s patent battle with Yahoo.

Facebook buys Microsoft patents just bought from AOL

Also revealed today was Facebook’s agreement signed to acquire $550 million in patents from Microsoft who purchased over $1 billion worth of patents from AOL just two weeks ago. Facebook has purchased 650 of Microsoft’s newly acquired 925 patents, “plus a license to the AOL patents and applications that Microsoft will purchase and own,” Facebook said in a release.

“Today’s agreement with Facebook enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction,” Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel of Microsoft, said in the release.

Facebook made a bid for the AOL patents as did Microsoft, but Facebook’s bid was too low, according to Businessweek sources close to the deal.