Saudi Aramco became the world’s most valuable listed company immediately after its 2019 stock-market debut.
Saudi Aramco began trading on the Saudi Exchange in December 2019 after an initial public offering. Its shares rose on the first trading day, briefly giving the company a market capitalization of about $2 trillion and making it the largest listed company at that time.
The company is formally known as Saudi Arabian Oil Company and is majority owned by the government of Saudi Arabia. It operates across oil exploration, production, refining, chemicals, and related energy businesses.
The listing was part of Saudi Arabia’s broader economic-reform program associated with Vision 2030. A frequent source of confusion is the distinction between listed-company market value and the value of a country’s entire energy sector; the record concerns Saudi Aramco’s publicly traded shares.