Facebook is now one of the world’s biggest companies with an estimated valuation of more than $200 billion. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, the current valuation of the company is $201.6 billion, making it the 22nd- largest company in the world, with Verizon Communications Inc. one spot ahead and Toyota Motor Corp. one spot below.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has turned the focus of the company to mobile advertising on smartphones and tablets, which has proved to be a winning strategy for the company so far. Now, the company’s ads can be found across the Web and wireless devices. Sales in the second quarter increased to $2.91 billion, a 61 percent rise over the previous quarter. Mobile advertising sales increased from 59 percent to 62 percent of total ad sales for the company.
Many investors have been jumping onto the Facebook bandwagon as it becomes more apparent that Facebook will be a clear leader in the mobile advertising industry of the future. Investors are betting that Facebook will be able to continue on it’s upwards trajectory as more and more people find that mobile is the way to go when it comes to technology. Many investors believe that as long as the company can keep increasing its mobile ad revenue, the stock price will keep rising.
While Facebook’s sales are a fraction of some of the larger tech companies, its market capitalization exceeds many of them. Since the end of July, Facebook’s stock price has increased by about 9.3 percent, versus a 0.7 percent increase in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. In the past 12 months, Facebook’s stock price has risen 81 percent, versus 21% for the broader S&P 500. The increase in the stock price of the company has increased Zuckerberg’s wealth to nearly $34.5 billion, not bad for a 30-year-old tech guru.
