Facebook to cash-in on mobile advertising

Facebook is planning to announce that advertising will soon be allowed on its mobile apps, a move designed to bolster its flotation price.

The social media group, which has filed for a US listing which could value it at as high as $100bn (£63.2bn), has 425 million smartphone users. Executives hope to confirm the move before shares start to trade later this year. It would be another source of revenue devised by the chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg to help justify the high valuation.

Facebook's rival, LinkedIn, is due to update the stock market on its 2011 results next week. In the first nine months of last year the firm more than doubled revenue to $355m (£224m). Investors are also getting their first look at the performance of Groupon, the internet sensation that emails 143 million subscribers with a "daily deal" coupon for local businesses, since the company floated in November.