Saudi Aramco conducted the world’s largest initial public offering in 2019.
Saudi Aramco sold shares on the Saudi Exchange in December 2019 and raised about $25.6 billion. An additional over-allotment option later lifted the total to approximately $29.4 billion, surpassing the previous IPO record held by China’s Alibaba Group.
The company is formally known as Saudi Arabian Oil Company and is headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It is majority owned by the Saudi government and grew from the oil concessions that led to the creation of the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company in the 1930s.
An IPO raises capital by selling shares to public investors, but the amount raised is different from market capitalization. Market cap measures the value of all outstanding shares. Saudi Aramco’s enormous oil reserves, production scale, and profitability have made it a recurring entrant among the companies with the world’s highest market values.