Saudi Aramco became the first company to reach a $1 trillion market cap through a stock-market listing in December 2019.
Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering took place on the Saudi Stock Exchange, known as Tadawul, in December 2019. Its shares rose after trading began, giving the oil producer a valuation near $2 trillion and making the listing the world’s largest initial public offering at that time.
Saudi Aramco is formally the Saudi Arabian Oil Company and is majority-owned by the government of Saudi Arabia. It operates some of the world’s largest oil reserves and production assets, making its valuation especially sensitive to oil prices, production expectations, and energy-market conditions.
This event is sometimes confused with Apple’s earlier $1 trillion milestone. Apple crossed $1 trillion as an already-listed company in 2018; Saudi Aramco reached the landmark immediately after becoming publicly traded through its IPO.