SAN FRANCISCO — When Facebook executives told investors in January that the giant social network would spend a lot more, they weren't kidding.
Quarterly results out late Wednesday showed stock-compensation shot through the roof. And payouts to employees at WhatsApp, the popular global messaging service it bought for $19 billion last year, were part of the reason.
The company said late Wednesday that first-quarter expenses rose a whopping 83%, about twice as fast as revenue growth of 42%.
Operating income fell 13%, while the company's operating margin shrank to 26% of revenue from 43% a year ago.
That spooked investors enough to send Facebook FB shares down as much as 3% in late trading, even though the results largely met Wall Street expectations.
The stock rebounded a bit after the company lowered the top end of its operating expense growth forecast. But it's not operational spending alone that's surging.
credit:usatoday
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