Tech giant Facebook crushed analyst estimates when it reported first-quarter results on Wednesday.

The company reported adjusted first quarter earnings of 77 cents per share on revenue of about $5.38 billion. Analysts had expected Facebook to report earnings of about 62 cents per share on $5.26 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

In fact, Facebook's earnings per share figure was 10 percent better than the highest estimate of 41 Wall Street analysts.



Shares in the company jumped more than 9 percent in after-hours trading following the announcement. If Facebook were to open at those levels on Thursday, it would easily exceed its all-time high share price of $117.59.

Facebook also said it was proposing the creation of new class C shares. If the proposal is approved, shareholders would get two C shares for each class A or class B share they own. This would potentially allow Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to sell some of his shares while still maintaining control of the company.



"We're focused on the long term, and that's the main reason for today's proposal," Zuckerberg said at the top of the company's earnings call. "Facebook has always been a founder-led company so we can focus on our mission and build long-term value."

Zuckerberg has previously pledged to give most of his wealth to charity — largely through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

"This proposal is designed to create a capital structure that will, among other things, allow us to remain focused on Mr. Zuckerberg's long-term vision for our company and encourage Mr. Zuckerberg to remain in an active leadership role at Facebook," the company said in its earnings release.

Zuckerberg said his control over Facebook has allowed it to successful turn to mobile and make bets on acquisitions like Instagram "that were very controversial initially, but were good decisions for our community and our business."

"Facebook has been built by a series of bold moves, and when I look out at the future I see more bold moves ahead of us than behind us," he said.

The adoption of the proposal is subject to the approval of Facebook shareholders at its 2016 annual meeting of Stockholders in June, the company said.