Exxon's got competition: PetroChina now the first company worth over $1 trillion
Well, in case you were wondering if there was any money left in oil, put your questions to rest. The PetroChina company this morning became the first firm ever to be worth more than $1 trillion. A trillion dollars. How many zeros is that? Twelve. So, it looks like this: $1,000,000,000,000. Hell, I'd be happy with a trillion pennies. The insane value of this company happened this morning after an initial public offering of four billion shares raised $8.94 billion today, the first day they were up for trade. The absurd part is that those shares are just a small part of the entire company: over 85 percent of the shares are still held by the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. and "are unlikely to trade in the market any time soon," according to the AP.
Here's another bit that will likely be of interest to AutoblogGreen readers, again from the AP:
Like other Chinese energy giants, PetroChina is investing heavily in both overseas and domestic oil and gas fields as it rushes to meet soaring demand. The company said it plans to use around 37.8 billion yuan ($5 billion) of the proceeds from the Shanghai IPO to help finance five projects aimed at boosting its crude oil output and refining capacity.
For comparison: Exxon Mobil Corporation is worth $488 billion. Chumps.
[Source: Elaine Kurtenbach / AP]
Add your comments