Saudi Aramco was the first company in the Middle East to achieve a market capitalization above $1 trillion.
Saudi Aramco reached the milestone shortly after its December 2019 stock-market listing in Riyadh. Its enormous oil reserves, production capacity, and profitability made the company valuable enough to join a group previously dominated by major technology companies and other global corporations.
The listing was part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic strategy, which seeks to diversify the kingdom’s economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenue. Only a small percentage of Saudi Aramco’s shares was sold to the public, while the Saudi government retained majority ownership.
Saudi Aramco’s valuation is often discussed alongside its IPO record, but these are separate facts: the IPO concerns money raised by selling shares, while market capitalization measures the value investors assign to all outstanding shares. The company trades on Tadawul under ticker 2222.