English version of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post website

The South China Morning Post reported that Jack Ma, the chairman of Alibaba Group, wanted to retain control of the company, which would lead to a change in plans scheduled to be listed in Hong Kong this year.

The South China Morning Post predicts that Alibaba's IPO (IPOs) will be financed on a scale of $15 billion trillion.

Investment bankers, who are interested in the deal, say Mr Ma has traveled to Hong Kong in recent weeks in an effort to explore ways to work with investment bankers to control the company, which he founded in 1999, after the Alibaba Group's IPO.

Investment bankers who had met Mr Ma said they told him that New York was the best option because it allowed listed companies to issue two of shares with different voting rights, and Hong Kong did not allow the dual-track equity structure.

"Figures can explain everything--Mr Ma is not Alibaba's biggest shareholder, so he will naturally worry about what might happen after the IPO." "One of the investment bankers who saw Jack Ma said. However, because of the confidentiality of the dialogue, he refused to disclose his identity.

Mr Ma and his management team hold a 10.4% stake in Alibaba, while SoftBank and the US Yahoo hold 36.7% and 24% of the company's shares respectively.

Investors generally expect Alibaba to list in Hong Kong in the fourth quarter of this year. But investment bankers said the NYSE and NASDAQ were both lobbying for Mr Ma, hoping he would consider a New York listing in order to use the regulatory rules there to help management pass a higher-voting stock control company.

A spokesman for Alibaba said the company had not yet chosen the location and timing of the listing, nor determined how many investment banks would be hired to help it go public. (Si yuan)