6 largest Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) of all time – The Biggest Ever

Initial public offering (IPO) is a process in which a private corporation’s shares are offered to the public for the first time. It helps companies to raise money from the general public. The primary objective is to raise capital for business. 

Following an Initial public offering (IPO), the company’s shares are traded on a stock exchange. In this article, we have listed the 6 largest IPOs of all time.

Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco): world’s largest IPO

Saudi Aramco is the largest Initial public offering (IPO) of all time. Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest oil producer based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 

This biggest Initial public offering (IPO) of all time occurred in the year 2019. Before that, Chinese technology giant Alibaba’s Initial public offering (IPO) was the largest of all time. 

In December 2019, Saudi Aramco knocked Alibaba out of the top post to claim the number one spot by raising 25.6 billion USD. Saudi Aramco officially listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in December 2019.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sold 3 billion shares, equivalent to 1.5% of the Company’s share capital. This offering generated proceeds of SAR 96.0 billion / USD 25.6 billion making it the world’s largest Initial public offering (IPO).

Alibaba: largest offering in U.S. history

Second biggest Initial public offering (IPO) on our list is chinese technology giant Alibaba. 

Alibaba Group is a Chinese Internet corporation which operates a series of vast online marketplaces in China.

Alibaba went public in the U.S. by listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in September 2014. Alibaba raised 21.8 billion USD at $68 per share. Alibaba IPO is the largest offering in U.S. history.

SoftBank: Japan’s Biggest Initial public offering (IPO)

Japanese holding company SoftBank is the third biggest Initial public offering (IPO) of all time. SoftBank listed on the Tokyo stock exchange after raising 21.3 billion USD.

It’s not a bank. The company started its business in 1981 as a distributor of computer software. The term “soft” is derived from the word “software”. Therefore, softbank means “a bank of software”.

SoftBank holds almost 24% of the Chinese technology giant Alibaba.

NTT Mobile Com Network

NTT Mobile Communication Network is another Tokyo‑based telecommunications player which went public in October 1998. The company is also known as NTT DoCoMo.

NTT Mobile Communication Network provides network management and telecommunication services.

NTT Mobile Communication Network raised 18.1 billion USD.

AIA Group Limited – Hong Kong’s Largest IPO

AIA Group is listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It is a Hong Kong-based investment and insurance company with an exclusive focus on the Asia Pacific region.

AIA group raised 17.8 billion USD to become Hong Kong’s biggest Initial public offering (IPO) ever.

It’s also the largest ever IPO in the insurance sector

Visa Inc

VISA Inc is a San Francisco based payment card services corporation which operates the world’s largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms.

This credit card company’s initial public offering raised 17.4 billion USD. In 2008, VISA Inc became the largest IPO ever by surpassing the 11 billion USD record held by AT&T.

VISA is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Here is the table showing the top 6 biggest IPOs of all time.