Facebook Inc’s mobile advertising business continued to accelerate in the first three months of the year, helping the Internet social networking company top Wall Street’s revenue target.

Shares of Facebook were up nearly 3 percent at $63.05 (€45.63) in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

Facebook said that mobile ads represented 59 percent of its ad revenue in the first quarter, up from 30 percent in the year-ago period. Facebook’s overall revenue grew 72 percent year-on-year to $2.5 billion (€1.8 bn) in the first quarter, above the $2.36 billion (€1.7bn) expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Facebook also announced that finance chief David Ebersman is resigning. Mr Ebersman, who will remain with the company through September, will be replaced by David Wehner, Facebook’s vice president of corporate finance and business planning.

The world’s largest internet social network said its total number of monthly active users reached 1.28 billion as of March 31st, with 1.01 billion of those users accessing its service on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The company said it earned $642 million (€465 m) in net income, or 25 cents (€0.18) a share, in the first quarter, versus $219 million (€158 m), or 9 cents (€0.07) a share in the year ago period. Excluding certain items Facebook said it earned 34 cents (€0.25) a share in the first quarter.

Reuters