(Yicai Global) July 16 -- Alibaba Group Holding will cut each of its common stock into eight shares, possibly to make it easier for new investors to join the Chinese e-commerce giant's alleged Hong Kong listing. 

Alibaba's shareholder meeting voted for the decision, the Hangzhou-based firm said in a statement. The plan is to conduct the split before July 15, 2020, according to the company's earlier announcement. The move will multiply Alibaba's outstanding stock to 32 billion from the current 4 billion. 

The incentive may be to lower the threshold for new investors ahead of the firm's alleged secondary listing in Hong Kong, an industry insider told Yicai Global. The company has not confirmed the plan. With yesterday's closing price and the lowest board lot of 100 shares, the minimum sum would be USD17,350 for each new investor before the split. 

Alibaba also re-elected four directors at the meeting for a term spanning till the end of 2022. Those included Chief Executive Daniel Zhang, Hong Kong's former CEO Tung Chee-hwa, Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, and former Nestle Executive Vice President Wan Ling Martello. The list did not include founder Jack Ma who announced last September that he will step down as chairman of the board next September in order to be replaced by Zhang. 

Alibaba's [NYSE: BABA] stock price rose nearly 3 percent to USD173.50 yesterday. 

Editor: Emmi Laine