Which company had the largest initial public offering in history?

Saudi Aramco had the largest initial public offering in history when it listed shares in December 2019.

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, commonly known as Saudi Aramco, raised about $25.6 billion in its December 2019 IPO. The company later exercised an over-allotment option, bringing the total raised to roughly $29.4 billion, depending on how the transaction is reported.

Shares began trading on the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul. The offering made Aramco one of the world’s most valuable listed companies and briefly pushed its market value to about $2 trillion. The Saudi government retained the overwhelming majority of the company’s shares.

Alibaba’s 2014 New York listing had previously held the IPO fundraising record. PetroChina’s 2007 listing is also often mentioned in market-capitalization comparisons, but its IPO did not raise as much capital as Saudi Aramco’s offering.