Saudi Aramco set a record with a $25.6 billion IPO in 2019, making it the world's largest initial public offering at the time.
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company offered shares on the Saudi Stock Exchange, known as Tadawul, in December 2019. The offering sold 1.5% of the company. Strong demand led the underwriters to exercise an additional share-allocation option, bringing the total proceeds to about $29.4 billion; however, the original $25.6 billion offering is the figure commonly cited for the record-setting IPO.
Saudi Aramco was already one of the world's most valuable businesses before becoming publicly traded. The company remains majority-owned by the Saudi government, so its IPO did not represent a full privatization. Its listing also made Saudi Arabia more prominent in global equity markets.
A common mix-up is confusing the original IPO amount with the later total after the extra shares were sold. Saudi Aramco's 2019 offering later lost the IPO record to other deals only when their final proceeds exceeded it.