More than a year and a half after investors and analysts first raised concerns about Facebook's potential to monetize on mobile, it appears those concerns can finally be put to rest.
Facebook revealed on Wednesday that mobile ads accounted for 53% of its total ad revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013, the first time that number has topped 50%. The company had come just shy of that in the previous quarter, with mobile ads account for 49% of total ad revenue. Mobile ads accounted for 23% of total ad revenue in the same quarter a year earlier.
See also: Inside Facebook's Mobile Strategy
Facebook reported earnings per share of $0.31 on revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, soundly beating Wall Street estimates for earnings of $0.27 per share on revenue of $2.33 billion.
"It was a great end to the year for Facebook," Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook cofounder and CEO, said in a statement, before alluding to the company's upcoming 10th anniversary next week. "We're looking forward to our next decade and to helping connect the rest of the world."
For the 2013 fiscal year as a whole, Facebook generated $7.87 billion in revenue. That's up 55% from just more than $5 billion in the 2012 fiscal year.
Facebook now has 1.23 billion monthly active users, up 16% year-over-year, and 945 million mobile monthly active users. Even more impressive: Facebook's daily active users increased 22% year-over-year to 757 million.
The company's stock doubled in 2013 thanks to renewed confidence in the company's prospects on mobile, as well as optimism for new and existing revenue streams from video ads, Instagram ads and mobile app install ads.
The stock jumped by more than 5% in after hours trading following the earnings report.