:00:00. > :00:00.The accident happened on a ride known as the "Fireball".
:00:00. > :00:17.Now it's time for World Business Report.
:00:18. > :00:19.Two billion friends, soaring profits and a big thumbs up
:00:20. > :00:30.But how much bigger can Facebook grow?
:00:31. > :00:34.President Trump hails a $10 billion Taiwanese investment as proof he's
:00:35. > :00:41.But one critic calls the deal a corporate welfare package.
:00:42. > :00:56.Samsung's on track for record annual profits as it puts the exploding
:00:57. > :01:00.We start in Silicon Valley where it seems there is no stopping
:01:01. > :01:08.Facebook has seen another huge jump in profits as advertising revenues
:01:09. > :01:10.keep on rising - let's show you just how big.
:01:11. > :01:14.In the three months to the end of June, Facebook made a net profit
:01:15. > :01:20.That's a jump of 71% on the same period last year,
:01:21. > :01:25.and better than Wall Street was expecting.
:01:26. > :01:28.In June the number of active monthly users crossed the two billion mark.
:01:29. > :01:32.That means more than one in every four people on the planet use
:01:33. > :01:40.And according to these latest results it's still rising.
:01:41. > :01:49.Not surprisingly, so is Facebook's share price.
:01:50. > :01:53.It has climbed by more than 40% since January -
:01:54. > :02:01.giving the company a stock market value of getting on
:02:02. > :02:06.That's more than 5 TIMES its value when it floated back in 2012.
:02:07. > :02:08.Facebook is spending billions every quarter on the future
:02:09. > :02:10.of its business - one area is Virtual Reality,
:02:11. > :02:13.as the BBC's Chris Foxx has been finding out.
:02:14. > :02:24.I am inside Facebook 's virtual reality chat room. I joined by
:02:25. > :02:31.Rachel from Facebook. Why will more people want to chat in this way. You
:02:32. > :02:35.can see, we are here together even though we are not in the same space
:02:36. > :02:40.so that is a special thing. I can see it not being. You can see my
:02:41. > :02:47.hand movements. You can get the idea of my body language. If I want to
:02:48. > :02:55.change the view, you can pass one of those? This is a fun one. I place it
:02:56. > :03:05.in the centre and now we are in someone's house. Right behind us!
:03:06. > :03:09.There he is with his dog and his daughter, Max, learning how to walk.
:03:10. > :03:11.This is very surreal. Colin Jacobs is Managing Director
:03:12. > :03:13.at Immediate Future - an independent social
:03:14. > :03:33.media consultancy Facebook, the unstoppable march of
:03:34. > :03:39.its profits, has stalled in investors -- has told investors to
:03:40. > :03:46.expect this not to go on forever. We have the big spending season at
:03:47. > :03:52.Christmas and we think they will continue through a stellar 2017. If
:03:53. > :03:58.you look at the profits, it is still based at the call newsfeed.
:03:59. > :04:04.Admittedly, more coming from mobiles. But it does not seem to
:04:05. > :04:10.have got the knack of making money from other platforms like Instagram
:04:11. > :04:19.et cetera. Instagram is on the march. The strolling story feature
:04:20. > :04:25.is proven to be very successful. The monetisation in WhatsAPP is great to
:04:26. > :04:31.be interesting, and indeed messenger. In April, an
:04:32. > :04:38.announcement... At a Facebook developer conference, they eat so
:04:39. > :04:45.interesting products that are said to be coming online with WhatsApp
:04:46. > :04:49.and messenger that will allow marketers to market their brands to
:04:50. > :04:55.conversations taking place. If we were talking on Facebook messenger,
:04:56. > :05:02.at this development... What would it do? It is an AI Digital assistants.
:05:03. > :05:07.If we are having a conversation about going out, the tool will
:05:08. > :05:15.recognise that and serve relevant option. For consumer brands, there
:05:16. > :05:22.would be appetite for that to happen. The user growth is another
:05:23. > :05:29.topic. Can they sustain this growth rate? 2 billion around the world, is
:05:30. > :05:41.it reaching saturation point? If you look at a gruff from ten years ago.
:05:42. > :05:47.There is a pretty consistent line gruff on growth. The Western world
:05:48. > :05:50.is slowing, no doubt about that but Facebook is about to explode in
:05:51. > :05:55.developing countries. It is well reported they are looking to deliver
:05:56. > :06:03.free Internet into developing countries so user growth will be
:06:04. > :06:11.exponential. The science of very encouraging.
:06:12. > :06:19.Let's stay in the US because President Trump has been
:06:20. > :06:21.hailing a $10 billion investment by Taiwanese electronics
:06:22. > :06:24.giant Foxconn - as proof his America First policy
:06:25. > :06:28.Foxconn is the world's top contract electronics manufacturer -
:06:29. > :06:29.assembling big name products like Apple's iPhone.
:06:30. > :06:32.At a press conference at the White House its CEO unveiled
:06:33. > :06:37.plans for a new plant in Wisconsin making LCD screens -
:06:38. > :06:40.But as Samira Hussain reports from New York -
:06:41. > :06:43.there are questions from some about the cost of the deal
:06:44. > :06:55.a large part of Donald Trump speech to American voters was about
:06:56. > :07:07.increasing the number of manufacturing jobs in America's old
:07:08. > :07:12.industrial areas. Certainly, at the White House event, he made no bones
:07:13. > :07:19.about his personal responsibility for the new factory. We represent
:07:20. > :07:25.the return of LCD electronics and electronic manufacturing to the
:07:26. > :07:28.United States, the country that we love, that is where we want our
:07:29. > :07:36.jobs. To make such an incredible invest in, they put in faith and
:07:37. > :07:41.confidence in the future of the American economy. In other words, if
:07:42. > :07:48.I did not get elected, he definitely would not be spending $10 billion.
:07:49. > :07:52.Behind the theatre of the announcement, some familiar concerns
:07:53. > :07:57.about the price US taxpayers will pay. News reports ahead of the
:07:58. > :08:02.announcements indicate the tie when his company could benefit from $3
:08:03. > :08:07.billion in tax breaks in exchange for the Wisconsin plan. One local
:08:08. > :08:13.politician has referred to it as a corporate welfare package and there
:08:14. > :08:17.is why spectres is about economists about how many such jobs can be
:08:18. > :08:22.created in an era of increasing automation and ever fiercer
:08:23. > :08:28.competition from overseas. And now, Mr Trump will bask in the approval
:08:29. > :08:37.from his base on one of his compelling campaign promises.
:08:38. > :08:45.Samsung Electronics is on track to make a record profits after its best
:08:46. > :08:51.ever second-quarter earnings. They were up to $12 billion in the three
:08:52. > :08:56.months till the end of June. It comes as his boss faces a corruption
:08:57. > :08:58.trial and the company recovers from a massive recall of its late ship
:08:59. > :08:59.smart phone. Sharanjit Leyl is following this
:09:00. > :09:11.for us in Singapore Of course, those gains are due
:09:12. > :09:14.overwhelmingly to the demand for semiconductors and chips and rather
:09:15. > :09:20.surprisingly by the success of its new Galaxy S eight smartphone
:09:21. > :09:27.because those numbers were more less in line with preliminary forecast
:09:28. > :09:31.that released a few weeks ago. Also, it comes as the firm endures
:09:32. > :09:37.challenges elsewhere, not least with the trial of its air apparent almost
:09:38. > :09:43.in its final proceedings. That was a scandal that and old South Korea and
:09:44. > :09:49.lead to the impeachment of its president. The S eight has received
:09:50. > :10:00.glowing reviews which is helping it recover from the recalls which cause
:10:01. > :10:07.the firm millions due to explode in battery chips. Amazon.com Facebook,
:10:08. > :10:15.Alibaba also helped Samsung railing on a shortage of memory chips.
:10:16. > :10:18.Prices on certain types of chips nearly doubled from a year earlier
:10:19. > :10:24.and record highs this year shrugging off all the drama that the company
:10:25. > :10:25.has had to endure. Thank you very much.
:10:26. > :10:28.German car giant Volkswagen has said cooperating with rivals is standard
:10:29. > :10:30.industry practise and that it helps customers
:10:31. > :10:36.The comments, following an emergency board meeting,
:10:37. > :10:38.come after allegations in the German press that BMW,
:10:39. > :10:41.Daimler and the VW group engaged in collusion over diesel emissions
:10:42. > :10:44.and other issues including pricing- claims they have dismissed
:10:45. > :11:03.Let's take a look at the markets. Tokyo stocks and other markets in
:11:04. > :11:12.Asia rose on Thursday morning. That was back at optimism of the
:11:13. > :11:18.companies posting results better than expected. The dollar fell after
:11:19. > :11:25.Federal Reserve is kept interest rates on hold as expected but it has
:11:26. > :11:31.given expect is an appetite. The three main US markets moved higher
:11:32. > :11:39.as US stocks surged to a fresh record highs. The Dow gaining almost
:11:40. > :11:43.half a percent, the most impressive, after Boeing sought after a strong
:11:44. > :11:49.earnings report. You get in touch with me on Twitter. We will be going
:11:50. > :11:57.to the papers in just a moment. Don't go away.
:11:58. > :12:01.New figures suggest there are inconsistencies in the way drug