Saudi Aramco briefly became the world’s most valuable public company in 2019 after its stock surged following its major IPO.
Saudi Aramco began trading in December 2019 and reached a market capitalization of about $2 trillion shortly afterward. That valuation temporarily placed it above Apple, then the leading public company by market value.
The listing was historic because Saudi Aramco is one of the world’s largest oil producers and because the offering brought a portion of a strategically important state-owned enterprise to public markets. The shares trade in Saudi riyals on Tadawul.
Its ranking later changed as energy prices, investor expectations, and technology-company share prices moved. A market-capitalization ranking is therefore meaningful only with a specified date, exchange, currency, and share count.