Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the IPO, which would be the world’s largest, could begin as early as 2020. The Saudi state-owned oil giant is restarting the IPO process after formally putting it on hold in August 2018. Aramco is the world’s most profitable company, with a net income of US$111.1 billion in 2018. (Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg)

Talking point: The IPO is a key part of bin Salman’s efforts to bolster the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund. Part of the reason for the delay was concern from international investors that bin Salman had greatly overestimated the valuation of the company, at US$2 trillion. A few key factors have changed since then: oil prices have bounced back, and the company—whose financial details had previously been confidential—held a US$12-billion bond offering in April and unveiled its financials to the public. The ability of the kingdom to reach its proposed US$2-trillion valuation is still a significant hurdle. Share prices will depend on the cost of oil, and on the willingness of institutional investors to buy into a company whose management decisions may be unduly influenced by the Saudi royal family—bin Salman, who has no previous professional experience in finance or energy, is currently chairman of the Supreme Aramco Council, which supersedes its board of directors.