The newspaper cited unnamed sources for its report. It said the self-imposed deadline is in danger of slipping as the company gets close to the moment when it will have to decide whether to go ahead with an international marketing trip involving its top executives.

The IPO – to be held on the New York Stock Exchange rather than Hong Kong (which has raised some local Asia eyebrows) could raise $20 billion or more, reports have said. The largest listing to date involving an Asia business, the FT said, was that of Agricultural Bank of China, at $22 billion, in 2010. The Alibaba float could rival that of Facebook in 2012 – and hopefully not be attended by technical glitches and an an initially disappointing price performance in the stock.

The report said Alibaba still hopes to begin a marketing trip for the deal as early as 21 July.