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Facebook’s reach gets even bigger: 1.65 billion monthly users

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Facebook turned in another stellar quarterly report that sent shares of the company up nearly 9% in after-hours trading.

Facebook reported sales of $5.4 billion — a 52% increase year over year — beating Wall Street’s expectations of $5.3 billion.

Profits were up nearly 200%, also topping expectations.

The company doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all, as it continued to add new users at a rapid clip. There are now 1.65 billion people using Facebook each month, compared to 1.59 billion at the end of last year. Mobile usage grew at an even faster pace — monthly active users hit 1.51 billion — up 21% from a year before.

Facebook has spent most of this past quarter launching and promoting its livestreaming video service, which it hopes will keep people glued to the app and website.

The company also turned its Messenger app into a bot platform so brands they can chat with customers through automated software programs.

Sales

First quarter 2015: $3.5 billion

First quarter 2016: $5.4 billion, up 52%

Profit

First quarter 2015: $512 million

First quarter 2016: $1.5 billion, up nearly 200%

Monthly active users

First quarter 2015: 1.44 billion

First quarter 2016: 1.65 billion, up 15%

Sales from advertising

First quarter 2015: $3.3 billion

First quarter 2016: $5.2 billion, up 57%