Facebook passes 900 million members but profits slide to dampen IPO fervour

Facebook has revealed it now has over 900 million active members on its site, up from the 845 million it first revealed in February, as the social networking platform continues to expand.

The firm revealed the update in an amendment to its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) on the stock market, expected to occur during May.

Facebook also revealed 300 million photos are uploaded to the site every day and a whopping 3.2 billion comments and ‘likes' on the site every day too.

The update also revealed that the firm's revenues for the first quarter of 2012 hit $1.058bn, down from the $1.131bn it logged in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Despite the drop, the revenues were an increase on the first quarter of 2011, when Facebook logged $731m.

However, profits for the first quarter of 2012 were only $205m, down from $233m in the same period in 2011 and down from $302m in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The figures will cause some disquiet among financial circles, with a drop in revenues and profits hardly ideal for the firm as it prepares to float on the stock market, with some analysts estimating the firm could be valued as high as $100bn.

The flotation is expected to occur on 17 May, and the firm has recently moved to take advantage of its expected wealth, purchasing Instagram for $1bn to boost its photo offerings and paying $550m to Microsoft for a raft of patents to fend off a lawsuit from Yahoo.