Saudi oil firm breaks market records

Name: WORLD
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The Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco reached a value of $1.88 trillion on Wednesday, its first day of trading on the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange, surpassing Apple as the largest listed company in the world. That makes it worth more than the world’s top five oil companies—Exxon Mobil, Total, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, and BP—combined.

Why is the kingdom selling the company? It only sold a 1.5 percent ownership stake to investors, with the government still holding the rest. That stock appears to be in high demand, driving up the total value of the company. Some analysts are skeptical that cronies of the Saudi ruling family are buying the stock and driving up the price. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman plans to use the money raised from the sale of the stock to diversify the country’s economy and fund job-creating projects.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in WORLD Tour about the crown prince’s outreach to U.S. evangelicals.

Lynde Langdon

Lynde is WORLD’s executive editor for news. She is a graduate of World Journalism Institute, the Missouri School of Journalism, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Lynde resides with her family in Wichita, Kan.

@lmlangdon