An initial public offering (IPO) refers to the process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance. Private companies decide to become public corporations for a number of reasons, but the most common is to raise money to grow the business. Private investors may have backed a company financially and want to get back the money they invested or to make a profit from the shares they hold, while a government may want to allow the public to invest in a state-owned business, such as a national telecom company. Some very lucky shareholders can make a boatload of money literally overnight.
There are two ways that a company can launch an initial public offering (IPO): by issuing new shares at a price that is determined by external financial experts using the overall value of the company or through a direct listing, by simply starting to sell existing shares that are already held by founders, employees and investors. After going public, companies often reinvest funds raised back into the business, expand operations, set up new divisions or buy smaller companies to improve their product range or profitability.Â
Here are the top 10 biggest IPOs in history.
Rank | Company | Date of IPO | IPO value |
1. | Saudi Aramco | December 5, 2019 | $25.6 billion |
2. | Alibaba Group Holding Limited | September 18, 2014 | $25 billion |
3. | SoftBank Group Corporation | December 10, 2018 | $21.35 billion |
4. | Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. | August 13, 2010 | $22.1 billion |
5. | Industrial and Commercial Bank of China | October 27, 2006 | $19.07 billion |
6. | NTT DoCoMo Inc. | October 22, 1998 | $18.1Â billion |
7. | Visa Inc. | March 18, 2008 | $17.86Â billion |
8. | AIA Group Limited | October 21, 2010 | $17.78Â billion |
9. | Enel SpA | November 2, 1999 | $16.58Â billion |
10. | May 1, 2012 | $16Â billion |
Victor Mochere is a blogger, social media influencer, and a netpreneur creating and marketing digital content.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
If you want to get published on victor-mochere.com, please send us your article using this form.
If there’s a topic you want to see published on victor-mochere.com, please send it to us using this form.
We are committed to upholding our editorial standards, including accuracy. Our policy is to review each issue on a case by case basis, immediately upon becoming aware of a potential error or need for clarification, and to resolve it as quickly as possible. If you notice an error or typo that needs correction, please don’t hesitate to contact us for immediate action.
Permission to use quotations from any article is granted subject to appropriate credit of the source being given by referencing the direct link of the article on Victor Mochere. However, reproducing any content on this site without explicit permission is strictly prohibited.
Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of the ads or links on this website, then we may earn a commission.
Victor Mochere is one of the biggest informational blogs on the web. We publish well curated up-to-date facts and important updates from around the world.
© 2022 Victor Mochere. All rights reserved.
© 2022 Victor Mochere. All rights reserved.