PetroChina briefly became the world’s first $1 trillion company during its Shanghai debut in 2007.
PetroChina’s A-shares began trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on November 5, 2007. The stock opened far above its initial offering price, giving the company a market capitalization of about $1 trillion at one point during the session.
That valuation was short-lived: the share price fell sharply after the opening surge. PetroChina’s total value was also affected by the fact that only part of the company’s shares were freely traded, while the Chinese state retained a controlling stake.
The event is often confused with the later, more durable trillion-dollar milestones reached by Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet. PetroChina’s distinction was being the first to touch that valuation, not the first to sustain it.