Saudi Aramco completed the largest initial public offering in history in 2019, reaching about $1.9 trillion in market value.
Saudi Aramco’s IPO took place in December 2019 on the Saudi Stock Exchange. The company sold a portion of its shares at an offering price that valued the business at about $1.7 trillion, and later trading pushed its market capitalization close to $2 trillion. The offering raised approximately $29.4 billion, making it the largest IPO recorded at the time.
The listing was part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy, which seeks to diversify the country’s economy beyond oil. The government remained the dominant shareholder after the offering, so only a minority portion of the company was available to public investors.
IPO proceeds and market capitalization describe different things. Proceeds measure money raised from shares sold in the offering. Market capitalization measures the value of all outstanding shares at the current market price, including shares that were not sold to the public.