Saudi Aramco was the first publicly traded firm to exceed a US$2 trillion valuation at its 2019 initial public offering.
Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, listed shares on the Saudi Stock Exchange in December 2019. The offering valued the company at about US$1.7 trillion initially, but a rise in the share price soon pushed its market capitalization above US$2 trillion. The company had previously been state-owned and remains majority-owned by the Saudi government.
The offering was part of Saudi Arabia’s economic reform program associated with Vision 2030. Selling a portion of the company created a major stock-market listing while preserving government control. Aramco is one of the world’s largest integrated energy companies and has historically ranked among the biggest oil producers.
This record is often confused with Apple’s US$2 trillion milestone in 2020. Aramco reached the valuation earlier, but Apple was the first company to reach US$2 trillion through ordinary public-market trading rather than a newly listed offering.