NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is reporting a loss for its third quarter, though revenue rose by nearly a third. The results exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

The world's biggest social media company posted a loss of $59 million, or 2 cents per share, in the July-September period. That's down from earnings of $227 million, or 10 cents per share a year ago, when Facebook was still privately held.

Excluding special items, mainly related stock compensation expenses, Facebook earned $311 million, or 12 cents per share, in the latest quarter.

Revenue rose 32 percent to $1.26 billion from $954 million.

Analysts had expected earnings of 11 cents per share on revenue of $1.23 billion, according to FactSet.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook's stock is up 90 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $20.40 in after-hours trading.