Company profile
- Industry
- Oil and gas
- Founded
- 1933
- Headquarters
- Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
- Ownership
- Publicly traded on the Tadawul stock exchange; majority-owned by the Government of Saudi Arabia
Profiles are auto-generated and infrequently updated.
Decisions on record
2 verified Decision Records on Saudi Aramco, and the casebook each one belongs to.
| Fork date | Decision type | What Saudi Aramco chose | Where it stood | The story | Casebook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | The Money Machine | List a minority stake | net income of $121.3 billion for full-year 2023, its second-highest ever (2023) | Read the story → | The Money Machine Casebook → |
| 2019 | Founder Doctrine | Float minority, keep control | Within five months of listing, Aramco had to borrow to fund the $75 billion dividend (2020) | Read the story → | Founder Doctrine Casebook → |
Run one of these yourself
The decisions Saudi Aramco faced, as kits you can run.
Each pack takes one of these decisions and gives you the framework, a deck for the room, a model that resolves to one number, and the sourced cases behind it. $499, one-time.
Business ModelThe Money MachineWhere does the money actually come from, and who sets the rate it comes in at?See the pack →People & ControlThe Founder ControlWhat does holding control cost you, and what must it be worth?See the pack →Business ModelThe Pricing Model ChangeWhat does changing how you charge cost before it starts paying?See the pack →
The analyses
The Money Machine · Business Model
Aramco Is the World's Most Profitable Company. It's Also Not Really a Company.
Aramco posted a record $161.1 billion profit in 2022 — probably the most any company ever made. But the state takes 50% of upstream income, royalties up to 80%, and sets the output. It's a sovereign cash machine wearing a stock ticker.
8 min
The Founder Doctrine · People & Control
Aramco Sold 1.5% of Itself and Changed Nothing. That Was the Whole Point.
The 2019 IPO is remembered as a privatization. It wasn't. Saudi Arabia floated ~1.5% for $25.6 billion, kept 98.5%, and bolted on a $75B-a-year dividend it had to borrow to pay within five months. The state didn't sell control. It sold cash flow.
7 min
The Cost Advantage · Business Model
Aramco Pulls Oil From the Ground for $3.53. The Kingdom Needs $96 to Break Even.
Aramco's lifting cost is $3.53 a barrel — the lowest at scale on earth, and a genuine moat. But Saudi Arabia's fiscal breakeven is ~$96. That ~27x gap is where the 'low-cost producer wins' story quietly falls apart.
8 min