Facebook Repeats Warning About Slower Ad Growth; Shares Drop
- Company focuses on quality of ads, not quantity, Sandberg says
- Quarterly sales jump 49 percent, topping analysts’ projections
How Instagram and Mobile Ads Boost Facebook's Earnings
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Facebook Inc. executives tried to temper investor exuberance about sales-growth prospects, repeating a warning that there’s a limit to the number of ads it can show on its social network.
On a conference call following its first-quarter earnings report, the company said it expects revenue growth to be down “meaningfully” after it stops increasing the frequency of marketing spots in the news feed later this year to avoid driving away users. Facebook shares fell as much as 4.2 percent as that message overshadowed first-quarter sales that topped estimates and a 17 percent jump in monthly users to 1.94 billion.