Facebook Proposes New Stock Class to Solidify Mark Zuckerberg’s Control

Facebook is making major moves to ensure its founder Mark Zuckerberg remains in charge of the company. On Wednesday the company proposed a new class of stock named as "C shares", this will allow Mr. Zuckerberg to maintain control of the company. The new class of shares will enable the chief executive to protect and keep his voting power at the company, even as he begins an effort to give away the majority of his stock for charitable purposes.

Facebook said the move was “not a traditional governance model,” but it added that “Facebook was not built to be a traditional company.”

The company also revealed their first-quarter earnings, sales shoot up 52% to $5.3 billion from a year ago, Profit also increased to $1.5 billion from $512 million a year earlier. The company's profit was 77% a share, far surpassing Wall Street expectations of 62 cents a share.

First Quarter 2016 Other Financial Highlights

•     Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 82% of advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2016, up from 73% of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2015.
•     Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2016 were $1.13 billion.
•     Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $20.62 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2016.
•     Free cash flow – Free cash flow for the first quarter of 2016 was $1.85 billion.