The change is part of a strategy by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, to knit together its businesses into one overarching network. Last week, The New York Times reported that he planned to integrate the technical infrastructure of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger so that people could talk across the services for the first time. The move, which the company hopes to complete by the end of the year or by early 2020, could provide Facebook opportunities for additional revenue from messaging activity and would increase the utility of all of the apps.
In a call with investors on Wednesday, Mr. Zuckerberg confirmed the report, calling the move an eventual boon for users. People want messaging that is “fast, private and reliable,” he said.
The moves followed a difficult year for Facebook, as questions about the unintended consequences of social media have sharpened. The company has faced scrutiny over improper handling of its users’ data, its largest-ever security breach last year, and the distribution of false content and foreign influence campaigns across its network.
This week, Facebook has been grappling with a report by TechCrunch that it paid people to install an app that would suck in all of their phone and web activity. That has renewed questions about Facebook’s approach to user privacy and prompted criticism from Apple, which oversees iPhone apps.
For its fourth quarter, Facebook’s revenue rose 30 percent from a year earlier to $16.9 billion, while profits jumped 61 percent to $6.9 billion. Seven million advertisers spend money on the platform, the company said, and in a shift, more than two million now buy ads in Facebook’s Stories, one of its newer products.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/technology/facebook-earnings-revenue-profit.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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