this is you business briefing with me, i'm sally bundock. winning back friends on wall street: facebook shares jump as earnings soar again, despite the privacy scandal. plus engine of growth: it's full speed ahead for the world's biggest car market. but will a us china trade war put on the brakes? we are live at the beijing auto show. and on the financial markets in asia, another mix day. the winner of the tech stocks. —— mixed. the losers are the financials. —— the winners are the tech stocks. we start with facebook, because despite the storm of controversy over its handling of our personal data, the world's biggest social network is more popular than ever. it has continued to see advertising revenue and membership soar in the first three

months of the year. facebook earned just under $12 billion in revenue in the first quarter — up 49% on the same period last year — and half a billion dollars more than wall street was expecting. almost $5 billion of that was straight profit, a 63% rise. 2.2 billion people are now logging on at least once a month — up 13% on last year — and again, more than investors were expecting. 1.4 billion people use it every day! facebook‘s share price has been hit in recent weeks — it's down almost 10% this year, amid investor worries that the firm could face regulation over privacy. in march/ it emerged that the details of 87 million —— in march, it emerged that the details of 87 million people were improperly

shared with the political consultancy firm cambridge analytica. the impact of that on the business could still be to come. but in his statement, ceo mark zuckerberg was bullish, saying "despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018". our new york business reporter kim gittleson has more. facebook‘s profits for the first three months of the year showed the delete facebook movement did not affect advertisers. it beat even the rosiest expectations, sending shares surging aftermarket had closed here. mark zuckerberg acknowledged the elephant in the room, said the company elephant in the room, said the com pa ny clearly had elephant in the room, said the company clearly had issues to address. but these earnings show that facebook has sometime. one interesting tibet is just how much facebook makes on each and every user. it is $5. but that is an average. in the us and canada, they make nearly five times that per

user. that shows just how serious the prospect of increased regulation here could be to the company's bottomline. interesting. that is kim gittleson. james erskine is director of the social media consultancy social circle. nice to see you againjames. nice to see you again james. hello. what do you make of what facebook had to say? they are little bullet—proof, aren't they? there are a couple of caveats. one is that one statistic they have not released is how long users are engaging with the facebook site. but outside of those two things, we have seen revenues increase, jumping hugely, and the number of daily or monthly active users increase. and that is because facebook other roles with the punches. any time there is an event, it takes a while to react, but they do, and they come back a little bit stronger. it was interesting to see

all that information. as you say, when mark zuckerberg was in front of the senate and april, so this was not necessarily seen in this quarterly impact, but everybody was said that they were living facebook. many viewers were saying that they we re many viewers were saying that they were really concerned about the use of their data. but as you say, is this company bullet—proof? is it about whether there will be new regulation in the future they could really hit facebook? is that the rural problem for this company, if there are two things coming here. what is not included is mid january and the algorithm change. the algorithm change, i felt and the algorithm change. the algorithm change, ifelt currently gave facebook — in a loud facebook to says it is a deadly crisis, talking about meaningful interactions and becoming more are

social network, which is what was set up to do. the second part of your point is a good one. because gdpr comes in somewhere in about me. i think they could be a strong point of facebook, because they will be gdpr compliant. whereas the various different brands working with facebook might not be, they can then use facebook to reach audiences in the knowledge that they are not breaking rules. so this could be another opportunity. interesting. we will talk about it again and again. james connor thank you for sharing your insight into facebook. lots of detail on our website. dig deeper if you wish. let's go to beijing now, where global carmakers are gathered for the annual auto show. china has become the world's biggest market for cars, with more than 1000 new models are on display. but fears of a trade war between the us and china have raised concerns. robin brant is at the beijing auto show for us. good to see you. tell us, it is this

the talk of the show, this trade war, or is it all about the new cars they are trying to show off? what is they are trying to show off? what is the atmosphere like? it is about showing the world the new models these companies have. this market here is immense. 28 million new units sold last year. but talk to senior executives and they are worried about the prospect of a trade war covered eagerly for firms that could be trapped in the middle. i spoke to harold kruger head of bmw. they are not chinese or american, obviously, buta bmw. they are not chinese or american, obviously, but a global company. they make cars in the united states, but then export to china. they fear they could be hit if this trade dispute between america and china escalate is back. he said he will was worried about the impact on export economies and local economies. by that, he miss

the united states, where they employ about 70,000, and of course in china. we have heard about reforms by the chinese government. the removal of the cap on foreign ownership. forward are also big global player as well. they welcome the move. —— ford. they say they do not see any immediate impact on their business. one good thing we are hearing is there is talk on the bloomberg newswire that china could dock the tariff on imported cars from 25 to 15%. this will be welcome news to come it is like bmw and ford. we will keep our eyes on that one. let's stay in asia. samsung electronics has posted a record quarterly profit for the three months to march — it made $14.4 billion, partly thanks to strong demand for memory chips. rico hizon is following the story. nice to see you. sets are also going

from strength to strength? that is right. great numbers. —— samsun. they have warned of charges in smartphone demand in the coming months. —— samsung. this result eases the concern for slowing demand forward chips, but samsung is not optimistic on the mobile business front. it forecasts declining profitability as it faces increasing competition from every direction from china's lo and me range phones, and from apple. this will not be solus to other international chip makers and suppliers which have issued looming the gloomy outlook is. --

issued looming the gloomy outlook is. —— issued gloomy outlooks. issued looming the gloomy outlook is. -- issued gloomy outlooks. thank you for that rico hizon. good to see you. now let's brief you some other business stories. french billionaire industrialist vincent bollore has been placed underformal investigation for corruption. it's alleged that a subsidiary of the bollore group undercharged two african presidents, in guinea and togo, for work on election campaigns, in return for lucrative contracts to manage two shipping container terminals. mr bollore and his company have denied any wrongdoing. ford is scrapping most of its us sedan car models to focus on suvs and pick ups. the auto giant says it will now cut $25.5 billion in costs by 2022, up from the $14 billion it announced last autumn. chief executive jim hackett told investors the company is undergoing "a profound refocus" of its operations. ebay‘s revenue and profit forecasts have disappointed wall street, sending shares down

in after—hours trading. the online marketplace invests heavily to meet rising competition from amazon and alibaba. and now what's trending in the business news this morning. business insider looks ahead to results from amazon on thursday, with a sky—high valuation of $700 billion. its shares are trading at more than 200 times its earnings. but it argues that could be justified. —— that is your business briefing. our media review in a moment. but

first, supporting the mental well—being of prime risk or children could drastically improve their life chances and generate significant economic benefits, according to a new study. it's claimed that offering pupils counselling could help to prevent them skipping school, cut crime and lead to higher employment. kathryn burns reports. if you don't have a place to be, then you willjust feel like, so negative. the children's mental health charity place to be provide support across the uk. it held with everything from argument in the playground to therapy sessions. it asks economists to put a financial value on its work with primary schoolchildren. the report predicts that anyone who gets counselling through the charity could benefit by £5,700. that is mostly because they are expected to go on and getjobs

and earn higher wages. they are also less likely to cost society in the future by needing different kinds of help. the service cost more than £4 million across the country in one year. the school paid about £20,000. if it didn't transform children's lies, we would continue with it. —— we wouldn't continue with that. it has two big cost—effective. —— lives. had you weigh up a job's emotional well—being with cost? lives. had you weigh up a job's emotional well— being with cost7m has pledged £300 million extra help for primary and secondary schools. kathryn burns, bbc news. more on that story on practice. —— breakfast. and, as the debate over the long—term funding of the nhs intensifies, they will also be looking at claims it will need £50 billion a year extra funding by the year 2050.

or that coming orthat coming up or that coming up on practice. —— breakfast. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: emmanuel macron has praised the excellent relationship between france and the us, but said he believes president trump will walk away from the iran nuclear deal. president moon and kim jong—un will meet on friday for an historic inter—korean summit. denuclearisation is set to dominate the agenda. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with le figaro, which shows french president emmanuel macron addressing the us congress during his state visit. the paper called his address friendly but critical over current us foreign policy. the bloomberg politics webpage also focusses on macron, who thinks us president donald trumps will withdraw from the iran nuclear accord, and mostly due to domestic reasons. fortune magazine reports the united kingdom is planning a big

investment in artificial intelligence technologies, in a deal worth nearly $1.3 billion. as part of the deal, the university of cambridge has agreed to create an ai supercomputer worth £10 million. the independent says the eu is planning to charge travellers coming from countries outside the single market a seven euro travel authorisation fee. the new rules are expected to hit the uk post—brexit. and on the reuters website, the united states is flooding the european markets with record amounts crude oil, as us producers seize on russia and the organisation of the petroleum exporting countries pact to cut output, which has resulted in soaring oil prices. with me is amrita sen, who is chief oil analyst at energy aspects.

good to see you back. so let's talk about how the media is discussing this visit on the part of macron. he is on his way back to france, the figaro saying friendly but critical. interesting to see how the french see this trip, how has gone for their president in the. absolutely, so their president in the. absolutely, so it was quite a contrast. the first day was about the shaking hands, and a lot of good jokes on that one, but i think his speech was very well received across—the—board, really. ra rely have very well received across—the—board, really. rarely have i seen a foreign president give a speech and he got a