Saudi Aramco had the largest initial public offering in history when it began trading in 2019.
The company sold shares on the Saudi Stock Exchange in December 2019, raising about $25.6 billion in the offering. Additional shares were later sold through an over-allotment option, bringing the total commonly reported proceeds to about $29.4 billion.
The IPO valued Saudi Aramco at roughly $1.7 trillion at its listing price, although its market value rose to about $2 trillion soon afterward. The offering was a landmark event because Saudi Aramco is central to Saudi Arabia’s petroleum economy and had previously been wholly state-owned.
Alibaba had held the earlier IPO record since its 2014 New York listing, but Saudi Aramco surpassed it. IPO size measures money raised from newly sold shares, whereas market capitalization measures the value of all publicly traded shares.