A GROUP of 27 top executives and investors in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., including co-founder Jack Ma, can appoint another two directors to the company’s board once it goes public, according to a U.S. regulatory filing Saturday.

    The move would expand the Chinese e-commerce company’s board to 11 members from nine and cement the group’s control over the board after Alibaba’s initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange later this year.

    Alibaba is expected to execute what could be the largest U.S. technology IPO in history. It powers four-fifths of all online commerce conducted in China, the world’s second-largest economy, and handled more transactions in 2013 than Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. combined.

    In its updated prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Alibaba boosted its estimated value to US$130 billion, up from more than US$116 million in earlier filings.

    The figures, which fall short of several analyst estimates of the company’s worth, were calculated to set employee compensation and do not necessarily represent the IPO price.

    The company also gave a more detailed explanation of its controversial decision in 2011 to spin out its Alipay payments service, a PayPal-like affiliate established in 2004.

    Ma started Alibaba in his one-room apartment in 1999 and has since branched out into areas as diverse as e-payments and financial investment. But its complex governance structure and Ma’s outside investments have raised questions about potential conflicts of interest and investors’ ability to sway Alibaba’s strategy and direction.(SD-Agencies)