Days of easy growth are over

But there are now 2.23 billion people using Facebook. That's two-thirds of the Internet-connected population in the world. It's about the same size as Christianity. Who else can register?

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It is no use that some people who use Facebook are angry at the company for its various breaches of data privacy and content moderation. Social network user growth in the second quarter was the slowest ever, and stable in North America. He lost some users in Europe. Meanwhile, he has stopped cramming more ads into the news feed. Too many ads, and people will be rejected. The only place where Facebook can replicate its proven business model is its Instagram photo sharing app, which also has some sort of news feed. The rest is still an experience.

Another of the fastest growing Internet businesses, Netflix, has given investors a fear that the race will come to an end. The owner of the largest pay-TV online network has reported slower growth in second-quarter subscribers, and the company's shares have fallen nearly 10% since last week.

Like Facebook, investors will have to decide -term blip, or a sign of a long-term problem. Netflix has just released its best year of adding subscribers, but growth at home has slowed.

Profit From Doubt

The transition to new revenue lines has not been as dramatic for Facebook. The company acquired WhatsApp for 22 billion US dollars in 2014 and created its own instant messenger application, Messenger, the same year. For years, he told Wall Street that he was just waiting for the right time to make money on these properties. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company could afford to be patient until these applications reach 1 billion users. Now they are well beyond this level, but Zuckerberg says the company is still experimenting with potential business models.

All this puts pressure on Facebook, because all these new initiatives "frankly are not important enough in the short and medium term" Eric Sheridan, an analyst at UBS, wrote in a note to investors. of time Facebook will have the benefit of the doubt.

There are now 2.23 billion people using Facebook.It is about the same size as Christianity.Who else can register? Company

The road to new business models involves another thing that investors hate: narrower profit margins.Many of the ways Facebook will make money at the # The future is more expensive, which reduces profitability.Taking virtual reality headsets involves making hardware and, in some cases, selling it at a loss to attract customers to a new product. n new type of Internet TV has already cost Facebook hundreds of millions of dollars in content offers. And in the long run, Facebook plans to share advertising revenue with content creators.

Clean up the mess

There is also the cost of cleaning Facebook's problems. The company hires thousands of people to work on investigative matters with fake news and foreign interference in national elections. And he invests in expensive engineers to build an artificial intelligence that can streamline this work in the future. "In the light of increased investment in security, we could choose to reduce our investments in new products," Zuckerberg said Wednesday. call with investors. "But we are not going to, because it would not be the right way to serve our community and because we are running this company for the long term, not for the next quarter."

Operating margins According to Facebook, the trend will be around 30%, while investors have become accustomed to more than 40%.

Facebook is known for its obsession to grow at any price. But he may have been too good at what he wanted to do.

Facebook also said that the company's business figure was going to be affected in part because it gives users greater control over their privacy settings. Its advertising engine relies on user data to accurately target people who might interest them. The company is introducing stricter user controls in the light of the European Data Protection Regulation, which came into effect during the quarter.

not the biggest factor. Zuckerberg said that the vast majority of users did not take Facebook on its offer to use less of their data.

Saturation point

Facebook is known for its obsession with growth at any price. But he may have been too good at what he wanted to do.

Now that he has reached a saturation point in the world, he has trouble managing the responsibility that accompanies such a size, and also the prospects for his future.

This opened the company to more risk than Wall Street was trading, said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research, in a note to investors.

"Society did not grow as well as most" Wieser wrote:

Bloomberg