The monster that is Facebook just hit a record high and overtook Exxon
Shares in Facebook have hit a record high after smashing Wall Street forecasts across the board, helping it briefly overtake oil firm Exxon Mobil to become the fourth largest company in the world.
Shares jumped nearly four per cent on the back of a more than impressive 59 per cent growth in revenue while net income rocketed 186 per cent.
Read more: Mobile ad surge boosts Facebook earnings up 186 per cent in Q2
Shares hit $128.32 as markets opened in the US, taking its market capitalisation to $371.8bn, slipping ahead of Exxon's $371.7bn.
The social network is successfully monetising the platform, unlike other platforms, with $6.2bn of its $6.4bn revenue coming from advertising and $5.2bn of that coming from mobile ads.
JP Morgan upped its price target on the stock to $170, up from $161, despite a note of caution from Facebook that it's impressive rates of growth would not be quite as thrilling through out the rest of 2016.
Read more: Mark Zuckerberg added $1.9bn to his wealth in less than 24 hours
Goldman Sachs also raised its price target from $142 to $162.
Facebook and Exxon are tussling it out for the number four spot, much like Apple and Google do for the top spot, and it last overtook the oil firm back in February.