SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook on Wednesday reported that its profit in the recently ended quarter plummeted due to costs of a US privacy settlement in a quarterly update that was largely better than expected and set its share price higher.

Profit in the second quarter fell 49 percent from a year ago to $2.6 billion while revenues increased to 16.9 billion.

The leading online social network beat market expectations regarding revenue and user growth, and shares rose 3.2 percent to $211.22 in after-hours trades that followed release of the earnings figures.

"We had a strong quarter and our business and community continue to grow," said Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.