Smartphone users scanning the latest news on Facebook, Oculus and virtual reality. Photo by: Pexels.com
Smartphone users scanning the latest news on Facebook, Oculus and virtual reality. Photo by: Pexels.com

In Q4 2016, Facebook Revenue Rose 51% Year Over Year to $8.8 Billion

Facebook recently lost a 500 million court case to Zenimax over the intellectual property rights to the software and hardware used in the Oculus product line.

After Facebook bought the virtual reality company in 2014, they moved forward with failed projects. This past holiday season the hardware and software was underdeveloped and overpriced. It did poorly for Facebook, but advertisers kept throwing money away with their advertising system.

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This 500 million dollar loss is a fraction of the profit they made in the fourth quarter of 2016 alone. With the amount of money the company is making overall, it would make sense that they would be hiring as many people as possible from the United States to help with development on the Oculus, as well as spurring economic growth. Stock holders like to hear about how much profit they made on their investment, but why not care about investing in jobs with correlation to the stock. Next, let’s take a look at how many people Facebook added to their workforce in comparison to billions of dollars they made last year.

According to the press room at Facebook, the number of total employees at the end of 2016 was 17,048. By the end of 2015, Statista reported that Facebook had 12,691 employees.

The result, Facebook added close to 4,357 jobs in 2016.

CNN Money reports that Facebook (FB, Tech30) reported sales of $17.9 billion, a 44% increase, and $3.7 billion in total profits for 2016.

The company made over 3 billion dollars, and hired a little over 4,000 people.

Companies need to look to local sources of advertising and employment to fuel local economics, as well as connecting with customers in your area. Watch a video below by Bloomberg on the recent Facebook court case.

Facebook Loses $500M Oculus Verdict