Facebook's revenue doubled to $1.6 billion in 2011's first half, a source with knowledge of its financials told Reuters, underscoring its appeal to advertisers while it grapples with intensifying competition from the likes of Google Inc.
Net income in the first half of 2011 came to almost $500 million, according to the source, who wished to remain anonymous because privately-held Facebook does not disclose its results.
Facebook's stronger results come as investors have pushed its valuation to roughly $80 billion in private markets, with many industry observers expecting the world's No. 1 Internet social network to go public in 2012.
That kind of performance is bringing the competition and the critics running to get a piece of Zuckerberg's Big Show, and that's mostly good news for users. It means Facebook will have to push the envelope more and give users more features and more security. On the other hand, as Bon The Geek has noted dozens of times, the temptation to use a massive personal information database for monetary gain has to be overwhelming, even as Facebook is already rolling in billions.
The temptation to cut corners of privacy and security in order to stay one step ahead of Google and Microsoft may not be something that the company can resist too much longer.
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