Alibaba, HKSE take listing debate online

Asked by China Daily if the exchange would consider a rule change to accommodate Alibaba, a spokeswoman said on Friday: "We are constantly listening to the market and reviewing our listing rules, but we don't make comments on individual comments and deals."

Investment banks have valued Alibaba, founded by former English teacher Jack Ma, at as much as $120 billion. Losing the Alibaba IPO offering would be a blow to Hong Kong, which hasn't hosted a first-time share sale of more than $4 billion since October 2010.

Tsai said in his blog post that Hong Kong capital market regulators must "consider what is needed in order to adapt to future trends and changes".

"The question Hong Kong must address is whether it is ready to look forward as the rest of the world passes it by," he wrote.

Tsai said the company never proposed a dual-class structure, and the partnership arrangement was meant to protect the company's long-term interests.

Tsai emphasized that the company's governance structure was a "living body" intended to preserve the corporate culture rather than being a means of control.

SoftBank Corp, Alibaba's biggest shareholder with a stake of about 37 percent, has backed the partnership structure as integral to the success of the e-commerce company.

"Alibaba has built a phenomenal business and created tremendous value for its shareholders over the years," SoftBank Corp Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son said on Friday in a statement.

"Alibaba's special culture is at the heart of its success and preserving it will be very important going forward. We are therefore very supportive of the Alibaba partnership structure," Son said.