LIVE BLOG: Facebook Q2 2018 earnings call

• When the market opens on Thursday, Facebook is expected to register its steepest one-day decline since it became a public company. On March 19th this year, the company logged in a one-day decline of 7.2% after reporting about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
• Stock crashes more than 20% at 6 PM ET
• Earnings call ends
• With regards to 2018 US elections, taking many steps to deal with misinformation and propaganda campaigns
• GDPR didn’t impact the ad revenue much
• Has got more than 25 million business profiles and over 2 million advertisers in Instagram
• Messenger is expected to contribute in revenue in the future, but it’s still early
• Combination of factors has caused the company to give a weak outlook for Q3 and Q4. Forex, Stories which are not monetized much as of now
• IGTV aimed at creating a platform for Instagram creators. Watch aims to create social viewing experiences for Facebook users
• Instagram grows faster than Facebook

Related: Facebook misses on topline in Q2 

• Q&A starts
• Stock tumbles more than 15% at 5:30 PM ET
• Tax rate for the year expected to be in the mid-teens; tax rate in Q3 will be higher due to a one-time event
• Expenses to increase in the range of 50-60% this year
• CapEx outlook remains at $15 billion and CapEx is expected to grow beyond 2018
• Revenue growth is expected to decline sequentially by high-single percentages in Q3 and Q4
• Stock repurchase amounted to $3.2 billion
• Average price per ad grew 17% and impressions grew 21%

• CFO Dave Wehner continues
• Will not decrease investments because of the investments in the security
• GDPR played a role in the sequential decline of European users
• Over 2.5 billion people each month use at least one of Facebook’s apps, many people use more than one of the Facebook’s services (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger)
• Mark Zuckerberg starts the call

Facebook’s (FB) revenue grew 42% to $13.23 billion but came below average analysts’ expectation of $13.36 billion after being embroiled in a slew of data leaks and fake news scandals. Facebook also managed to boost its average revenue per user, which grew from $23.59 during Q1 to $25.91 in the US & Canada.