Facebook has become a victim of its own success. The social networking giant beat expectations for its third-quarter earnings, but the share price slid as much as 10 percent in after-hours trading after the company projected that costs and expenses will increase between 50 percent and 70 percent next year as it looks to invest in talent, and new areas like video.
Facebook said revenue in the three months ended Sept. 30 totaled $3.2 billion, up 59 percent from $2.02 billion in the year-ago period. Mobile ad sales accounted for 67 percent of all ad revenue. Facebook also for the first time disclosed the financial performance for WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app that the company acquired earlier this month for $22 billion. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, WhatsApp lost $232.5 million in the first six months of 2014, compared to a loss of $58.8 million in the first six months of 2013.
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