Facebook hit by slowdown in US growth

Facebook investors endured another dose of bad news yesterday as it emerged that its pace of growth is slowing in its main market of the US.

Although it remains hugely popular, with 158 million users in the country, the number of unique visitors rose just 5 per cent in April – the slowest rate since market research group Comscore started collating data in 2008.

The annual pace of growth in the amount of time people spent on the site also slowed, from 23 per cent last April to 16 per cent, bringing the total up to six hours a month. Facebook floated at $38 a share on 18 May but the shares are currently trading at just below $28.