Facebook posts $2.62B earnings for 2nd quarter, despite regulatory hot water

Facebook Inc.on Wednesday reported second-quarter earnings of $2.62 billion.

The Menlo Park, California-based company said it had profit of 91 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $1.99 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.90 per share.

The social media company posted revenue of $16.89 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Twelve analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $16.45 billion.

Facebook shares have risen 56 per centsince the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 20 per cent. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $204.55, a drop of roughly fiveper centin the last 12 months.

Antitrust investigation

Facebook also said Wednesdayit is under antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

The company said Wednesday that it was informed of the investigation in June. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice also announced a broad antitrust probe of technology companies. That announcement did not specify what companies the agency was looking into, though broad antitrust concerns have long swirled around Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google.

The investigations are part of a broad, global attempt to crack down on the growing power of these U.S. technology companies.

Federal regulators have fined Facebook $5 billion US for privacy violations, and are instituting new oversight and restrictions on its business.