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Facebook profits rise amid 'Facebook Papers' findings

Amid fallout from the “Facebook Papers” documents supporting claims that the social network has valued financial success over user safety, Facebook on Monday reported higher profit for the latest quarter.

The company’s latest show of financial strength follows both an avalanche of reports on the Facebook Papers — a vast trove of redacted internal documents obtained by a consortium of news organizations that included The Associated Press — but also of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimony to British lawmakers.

Facebook said its net income grew 17% in the July-September period to $9.19 billion, or $3.22 per share, buoyed by strong advertising revenue. That’s up from $7.85 billion, or $2.71 per share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 35% to $29.01 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $3.19 per share on revenue of $24.49 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook’s stock price climbed $3.90, or 1%, to $332.43 in after-hours trading. It had closed up 1% for the day.

The company predicted uncertainty for 2021 back in January, saying its revenue in the latter half of the year could face significant pressure. Because revenue grew so quickly in the second half of 2020, Facebook said at the time that it could have trouble keeping up that pace. But as the company’s stock price shows, investors were not surprised by Monday’s results.

Facebook, which is reportedly considering a rebranding — although it has declined to comment on what it called “rumors and speculation” following a report from the tech site The Verge — said it will break out Facebook Reality Labs as a separate segment beginning in the fourth quarter.

This segment will include its products on augmented and virtual reality and related hardware, software and content.

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