Saudi Aramco completed its initial public offering in 2019, in one of the largest listings ever.
Saudi Aramco began trading on the Saudi Exchange in December 2019. The offering sold a portion of the state-owned oil company to public investors and raised about US$25.6 billion at the time, making it the largest initial public offering then recorded.
The company is formally known as Saudi Arabian Oil Company. Its roots reach back to the discovery and development of Saudi oil resources in the twentieth century. Saudi Aramco produces crude oil, operates refineries, and participates in chemicals and energy-related businesses.
The IPO is sometimes confused with the company’s later market-value milestones. An initial public offering is the first sale of a company’s shares to public investors; market capitalization is the value of all publicly traded shares at a particular price. The 2019 listing made Saudi Aramco a major publicly traded company without selling the entire business.