ExxonMobil’s 2014 stock-market value made it the world’s largest publicly traded oil company before Saudi Aramco’s IPO.
ExxonMobil was formed in 1999 through the merger of Exxon and Mobil. For years it ranked among the world’s largest companies by market capitalization, supported by integrated oil, gas, refining, chemicals, and fuel businesses.
The company’s history reaches back to Standard Oil, which was broken up by the United States government in 1911. Exxon and Mobil later developed separately before combining into ExxonMobil, creating one of the largest publicly traded energy businesses.
This fact is easy to confuse with Saudi Aramco’s later position. Saudi Aramco was not publicly listed until 2019, so earlier rankings of publicly traded oil companies excluded it. Market-cap rankings also vary with oil prices and share-price changes.