Saudi Aramco conducted the world’s largest initial public offering in 2019.
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, commonly known as Saudi Aramco, listed shares on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul stock exchange in December 2019. The offering initially raised about $25.6 billion, and the exercise of an overallotment option increased the total to approximately $29.4 billion.
Saudi Aramco’s enormous oil reserves, production capacity, and profitability made it one of the world’s most valuable listed companies. Its listing also made the company a major component of Saudi Arabia’s domestic stock market and a central asset in the country’s economic strategy.
The IPO is often compared with technology-company market-cap records, but the businesses are different: Aramco is primarily an integrated energy producer, while Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia derive their valuations mainly from technology ecosystems and semiconductor demand.