Facebook Profits $714 Million in 1st Three Quarters of 2011

Sources close to Facebook have revealed a sneak peak at the company’s finances.

The social network’s profits have doubled in one year, and are now likely to be a full billion dollars this year.

That figure is double the reported figure for last year.

The company reportedly made $714 million profit in the first three quarters of this year, on revenue of $2.5 billion.

It is expected to clear the billion mark in the last quarter.

Mark Zuckerberg reportedly owns 24 per cent of the shares in the company, according to the figures obtained by Gawker.

The Wall Street Journal recently valued the company at $100 billion – putting Zuckerberg’s personal stake at $24 billion.

Facebook is expected to raise $10 billion via an IPO later this year, although Zuckerberg himself has been repeatedly reported as being against an early IPO for the company.

The IPO would create roughly 1,000 new millionaires, according to reports – and Facebook employees have said in interviews that they would leave if they became rich.

Other web giants such as Yahoo reportedly faced difficulties from employees sitting checking stock options instead of working in the wake of their IPO.

The company is also – according to a well-placed Silicon Valley source – sitting on $3.5 billion in cash.