Advertisements keep coming as Facebook revenue climbs

Facebook has been embroiled in one controversy after another. But ad sales are near records and users keep flocking to the social network.

The company’s first-quarter revenue rose 49 percent to $11.97 billion, beating the $11.4 billion average analyst projection, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In a statement Wednesday, Facebook said it now has 1.45 billion daily users, a key measure of engagement, matching estimates. Shares surged in extended trading.

Facebook has spent the past month explaining, apologizing and tweaking its rules after an app developer passed along personal information on as many as 87 million users to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, which may have failed to delete it. That crisis, which resulted in a #deleteFacebook campaign and a congressional inquiry for Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, hit toward the end of the quarter — so its implications may have had little visible impact so far. Still, the company’s persistent growth points to the strength of its digital-ad business, despite growing concerns from advertisers, users and lawmakers in the past year.

“Facebook continues to have a long revenue runway ahead of it,” Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note to investors. “Marketers continued to spend on the platform at record highs. And we believe actions that lead to revenues speak louder than words.”

The stock has dropped about 14 percent since the new reports about data-privacy lapses emerged in March.

Net income in the first quarter climbed 63 percent to $4.99 billion, or $1.69 a share, topping the $1.35 per share analysts predicted.

Capital expenditures reached $2.81 billion in the quarter as Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook increases its spending on security, video content and new technologies.