In the latest filing, according to AllThingsD, Facebook is ‘further outlining its weaknesses in the mobile realm.’ The problem comes down to one of math: daily active users are skyrocketing, but the number of ads delivered isn’t moving higher at the same rate. Simply put, all this new action on Facebook (from users) is creating additional advertising inventory. It isn’t being sold. So, average revenue per user goes down. That means less revenue to cover per-user costs, lower margins and so on.

I like the way AllThingsD put it: ‘In strictly economic terms, that’s no bueno.’

Now, here’s the real nightmare in all this: nobody is going to do anything about it anytime soon. At least, that’s my bet. Here’s why: Mark Zuckerberg, the esteemed CEO (and chairman, and majority shareholder), keeps talking about Facebook as a long-term play. Essentially, he doesn’t need to worry about monetizing mobile right now, because he says so.

Ouch.

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Source: AllThingsD

Photo: @boetter via Flickr

Audience IPO

Audience is going public on NASDAQ and will trade under the symbol ADNC. The company raised $90 mn by selling 5.3 mn shares for $17 each, above its range of $14 to $16.

Source: Renaissance Capital

WageWorks IPO

WageWorks went public at $9 a share, missing the low end of its range ($10 to$12). The company raised $58.5 bn, selling 6.5 mn shares. WageWorks will trade on NYSE under the symbol WAGE.

Source: Renaissance Capital

Western Asset Mortgage Capital Corporation IPO

This REIT priced its IPO at $20, ‘as expected’, according to Renaissance Capital. It raised $160 mn and will trade on NYSE under the symbol WMC.

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Source: Renaissance Capital

New Enterprise Associates

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Source: AllThingsD

Photo: 401K

Customers Bancorp

This community bank just yanked its plans to go public. It had been looking for $100 mn in fresh capital. Customers Bancorp gives ‘market conditions’ as the reason for the IPO withdrawal.

Source: Renaissance Capital

Alon Brands

Never heard of these guys? They operate 7-Eleven convenience stores. Well, the retailer has decided to get out of the IPO pipeline, withdrawing a deal that it had hoped would be worth $100 mn.

Source: Renaissance Capital

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals

The biotech company has cut its price IPO price range. Now, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals is looking to raise $65 mn by selling 10 mn shares priced $6 to $7 each. This is down from a $75 mn capital raise through 5.8 mn shares priced $12 to $14.

Source: Renaissance Capital

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Photo: andy_carter via Flickr

Acquisitions

StumbleUpon was snapped up by eBay in 2007 for $75 mn.

Divestitures

eBay sent StumbleUpon back into the world in 2009.

Venture capital activity

A little over a year ago, Camp helped the company raise $17 mn in venture capital funds.

Pivots

Formed as a link-sharing company, StumbleUpon was poised for the rise of ‘social discovery’ – which includes social media services from Facebook to Pinterest to Reddit.

Growth and influence

StumbleUpon remains one of the largest sources of referred traffic on the web, and is usually in the #2 spot, behind Facebook. It now boasts 25 mn registered users, up from 14 mn around a year ago.

Apparently, the board of directors is now looking for a CEO who can drive international growth. So far, 85 percent of StumbleUpon’s users are in the U.S., but it’s looking to kick off local versions in the UK, France and Germany.

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Source: Business Insider

Photo: magerleagues via Flickr

This follows rumors that Arianna Huffington was approached by private equity suitors interested in taking The Huffington Post out of the Aol world. Tim Armstrong, the Aol CEO, is reportedly looking for $1 bn to take HuffPo off his hands, and Arianna says the talks have gone nowhere.

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Source: PandoDaily

Photo: Kevin Krejci via Flickr

If you’ve ever been to a business conference or a film festival, you’ll know that these events rarely run entirely on schedule. Times and locations for speakers or film viewings are sometimes changed, or entirely canceled. Unfortunately, the paper-bound agenda for such events can never show such on-the-fly alterations, leading only to attendee confusion and frustration.

So it’s not surprising that someone has finally stepped up to replace the static, paper-bound agenda with a paperless, digital agenda built for that ubiquitous tool, the smartphone.

Vancouver-based QuickMobile’s mobile event apps and websites can be altered and updated as quickly as you can say “our keynote speaker has gone missing.”

Meeting its growth goals via the meetings market

Founded in 2007, QuickMobile launched its event platform in 2009. Last year, the company recorded sales growth of several hundred percent; increased its headcount from 20 to 60; raised $3.6 mn in funding; and opened offices in Ottawa and Singapore.

In the first two months of 2012, QuickMobile has already signed agreements to produce as many apps as it did in all of 2011.

An app with an audience

It’s not just a matter of keeping an event running smoothly.

Like any good smartphone business app, QuickMobile’s paperless agendas help their users (event planners) communicate better at all levels with their customers (event attendees).

For event planners, this can lead to a bigger attendee list, increased attendee engagement, and brand extension and events-reach beyond the actual date of an event.

Sundancing with Disney

QuickMobile’s initial market in North America is sizable: In the U.S. alone, there are 1.8 million meetings each year.

The company has an impressive client list: Salesforce.com, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, Dell, Disney, Tribeca Film Festival, Virgin Holidays, Whistler Film Festival Society and Sundance Turner Broadcasting, among others.

A key early supporter was Meeting Professionals International, which represents 23,000 event planners globally.

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Photo: clementine gallot via Flickr

This is a guest post. QuickMobile is a client of Cross Border Communications.

Elena Verlee is founder of Cross Border Communications, a technology PR agency based in Vancouver and Silicon Valley working with a range of clients from high-growth startups to billion dollar companies. A passionate publicist with two decades of brand building experience, Elena also blogs at PR in Your Pajamas, an award-winning site that helps entrepreneurs and smaller businesses who can’t afford a publicist to get heard, get known and get talked about so they can change the world. Elena’s blog is named by PRWeb as one of “25 Essential PR Blogs You Should Be Reading” and syndicated by the Visa Business Network to over 100,000 members. Elena has also been named twice in a Forbes list as one of “20 Women for Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter.”

Jackie Peterson is a scientist turned business communicator. She is Director of Client Services atCross Border Communications and helps clients translate highly technical ideas into easily understandable media-worthy stories. Jackie has an unparalleled network of media contacts and is passionate about attracting investor interest to deserving but neglected companies. Jackie started her career with Pengrowth Energy Trust’s PR team then moved on to Business Development in their M&A division during which time the Trust completed over $2 billion in acquisitions, doubling their market cap. Having lived in Montreal, Calgary and Victoria, Jackie now calls Vancouver home.

Facebook friend relationships

Facebook clearly keeps people connected. The site has generated 125 bn friend connections.

Facebook likes

If you’ve clicked the ‘like’ button even once, you’ve contributed to the daily average of 2 bn.

Facebook comments

Do you have something to say? If so, you’re probably responsible for some of the 1 bn comments left on Facebook daily!

Facebook visitors

It’s pretty straightforward: more than 900 mn monthly active users, 525 mn daily active users and 488 mn mobile users.

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Source: Business Insider

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Source: eMarketer

Facebook monthly active user growth

Facebook posted YOY monthly active user growth of 39 percent in 2011. While this is doubtless impressive, it is down from 69 percent YOY the year before. With only 60 percent penetration in markets like the US and UK, Facebook still has plenty of room to grow. Sure, Chile and Turkey are nearly saturated – Russia, South Korean and Japan are far from it!

Facebook revenue growth

The social media company is growing its ‘payments and other fees’ category, although it still represents a small portion of its overall revenues. Advertising is still the dominant stream at Facebook. And, the US (and Canada) is the best market for it. The company reveals that it generated an average of $9.51 per user in advertising revenue in the US, more than twice the global average of $4.34. Europe is only good for average advertising revenue per user of $4.86, with Asia at $1.79.

Facebook employee population growth

Facebook ended 2010 with 2,127 employees. It ended 2011 with 3,200, representing YOY growth of around 50 percent. This isn’t surprising, given the company’s preference for internal development over acquisitions.

Facebook profit growth

While operating margins did slip YOY to 47 percent from 52 percent, they’d surged from 34 percent in 2009. Operating income is up around 70 percent YOY, although the situation in Q1 2012 leaves a bit to be desired: operating profit is down, and margins are tighter.

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Source: Business Insider