PetroChina was the first company to exceed a $1 trillion market capitalization using a publicly traded share class in China in 2007.
PetroChina’s Shanghai listing produced an extraordinary first-day surge on November 5, 2007. At the peak of trading, the company’s implied value passed $1 trillion, briefly making it the world’s most valuable company by that measure.
The figure requires context because PetroChina had multiple share classes and most of its shares were held by its state-owned parent, China National Petroleum Corporation. The price of the freely traded Shanghai shares was therefore used to calculate the company’s implied total value.
The stock’s spectacular debut occurred near the height of China’s equity-market boom. Its later decline demonstrates why market capitalization records based on short-lived trading peaks should not be confused with long-term corporate value.