Saudi Aramco became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2022 after overtaking Apple by market capitalization.
Saudi Aramco is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia and one of the world’s largest integrated energy businesses. Higher oil prices in 2022 increased investor attention on energy producers, while technology shares faced pressure from rising interest rates and changing economic expectations.
The company listed a portion of its shares on the Saudi Exchange in 2019. Because most of the company remains owned by the Saudi government, its publicly traded float is much smaller than its total ownership structure might suggest.
Market-cap leadership is temporary rather than a permanent title. Saudi Aramco, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia have each occupied the top position at different times as share prices, commodity prices, and investor expectations changed.