Saudi Arabia Is Negotiating To Sell 1 of Aramco
The Claim
Saudi Arabia sold Aramco to invest in Disney, Boeing, Facebook.
News posted on
Emerging story
Popular Nigerian economist Kalu Aja recently tweeted, stating that Saudi Arabia sold Aramco to invest in Disney, Facebook, Citibank, and Uber. He claimed that while trying to buttress his point, any nation-building economy on crude oil is taking a risk.
Misbar’s Analysis
MENA: Misbar found the circulating claim selective. The Saudi government announced it was looking to sell off its shares in the oil giant, only 1% of its stake. It was estimated to be worth $19 billion based on the company’s value.
The oil giant issued an international listing in late 2019 of about 5% of its shares, but it failed to generate the expected response from the global market. According to CNBC, the initial public listing raised $25.6 billion, and the company subsequently exercised its ‘’greenshoe option’’ to sell 450 million more shares, bringing the total size to $29.4 billion.
The Saudi government owns more than 98% of Aramco’s shares. It is, therefore, wrong to say that the Saudi government sold off the company.
Aramco is the third-most profitable company globally after Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corporation and the world’s largest oil producer.
