Saudi Aramco’s 2019 initial public offering took place on Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange.
The offering began trading on December 11, 2019, in Riyadh. Saudi Aramco sold a portion of its shares to the public, making the state-controlled petroleum company a listed corporation while the Saudi government retained majority ownership.
The IPO attracted enormous attention because Saudi Aramco is one of the world’s largest oil producers and owns vast petroleum reserves. Its listing was connected to Saudi Vision 2030, a national program intended to diversify the kingdom’s economy and reduce dependence on oil revenues. The offering was initially domestic, rather than a simultaneous listing in New York or London.
Tadawul is also known as the Saudi Exchange. A frequent mistake is to call Saudi Aramco a wholly private oil company: it is publicly listed, but the Saudi government remains its controlling shareholder. Its market value can fluctuate with oil prices, production expectations, and investor sentiment.