Saudi Aramco held its initial public offering in 2019.
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, commonly called Saudi Aramco, listed shares on the Saudi Stock Exchange, or Tadawul, in December 2019. The offering made it one of the largest initial public offerings ever recorded and gave public investors a direct stake in a small portion of the state-controlled energy company.
Saudi Aramco traces its corporate history to the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company, established in 1933. The company later became part of Saudi Arabia's national oil industry as ownership was transferred to the Saudi government. It operates major oil, gas, refining, and petrochemical businesses.
The IPO year is often confused with 2016, when Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan and the idea of an Aramco listing received major international attention. The listing itself occurred three years later, in 2019. Its market value has since moved with oil prices, earnings, investor sentiment, and the number of publicly traded shares.