For quite a while, we’ve been making favorable comparisons between the size of Facebook’s user base and the populations of different countries. Now, Facebook may be able to measure up to a few nations in terms of finances, too, with a report claiming the social network generated $800 million in revenue last year.
The GDP of somewhere between 14 and 24 countries (depending on whether you want to trust the International Monetary Fund or the CIA Factbook) fell below $800 million in 2009. That means Facebook is playing on a pretty impressive level, although this is an apples-to-oranges evaluation.
More importantly, the company’s supposedly not spending money faster than it can earn it. "Two sources familiar with the situation" told Alexei Oreskovic about Facebook’s $800 million in revenue, and Oreskovic wrote, "The company also earned a solid net profit, in the tens of millions of dollars last year, one of the sources said."
Things are only likely to get better for the company from here on out, too, with Facebook continuing to grow and more and more advertisers warming up to the social network all the time.
Count on seeing another jump in the price of Facebook’s shares on the private market as a result of this news.