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Facebook's little stock-that-couldn't is on track for its biggest one-day gain ever and it has everything to do with yesterday's earnings report in which it reported a $59 million loss. Even with that number, the quarterly report beat Wall Street expectations, and then shot up over 24 percent in after-hours trading. This morning it opened at $24.12, after closing at $19.50 before its Q3 earnings came out. It has sunk a bit, as of this writing, but is still trading over 20 percent up for today. That positive movement is all because of this tidbit from the earnings report: The company made $153 million from mobile advertising. Why? Let's explore.
From no "meaningful revenue" to $153 million in six months. Before its IPO, Facebook disclosed that it had no way of making money off people who use the iPhone or Android app, writing this foreboding statement in its amended S1. "We do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven." After a concerted effort to get better at cell phones, including an updated app and most lucratively mobile Sponsored Stories, the company has negated that statement.