Weight in the home economy gives a different list: AIA's 2010 sale was about 8–9% of Hong Kong's GDP and Aramco about 3.2% of Saudi GDP, while SpaceX was only about 0.24% of US GDP. AIA ($27.1bn in 2026 dollars at pricing) misses the dollar top 10.
Back to the trend of the day: India's biggest phone network starts selling shares to everyone
Poly Rating · from the trend of the day
Biggest IPO in history: top 10 in today's money (2026)
SpaceX's record $75bn was only about 0.24% of US GDP, while Saudi Aramco's $25.6bn was about 3.2% of Saudi Arabia's economy.
- No. 1: Agricultural Bank of China IPO (2010)
- 10 places
01Final list
The leading AIs each built their own list of ten independently. Here is one result that is easy to check: every place has a reason, a source, and the list of AIs that included it.
Order: from most to least AI agreement.
A bright badge means this AI put the entry on its list. A dim badge means it did not.
- 1
Agricultural Bank of China IPO (2010)
$19.2bn across two exchanges, about $29.7bn today (estimate), was mostly fresh capital for a state bank. It equalled only about 0.33% of China's GDP.
Included it: Claude, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, StepFun, DeepSeek, Wenxin, Kimi. Did not include: Nova.In their lists: Claude: 9 · Meta: 8 · Gemini: 6 · Nemotron: 10 · StepFun: 5 · DeepSeek: 6 · Wenxin: 4 · Kimi: 6
What each AI noted 8
- Claudeplace 9
A $19.2bn dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, about 0.3% of China's GDP, fresh capital for a state bank.
Source ↗ - Metaplace 8
19.2B (22.1B greenshoe), held world record 2010-2014, 0.32% China GDP
Source ↗ - Geminiplace 6
The final piece of China's state-banking overhaul raised $22.1 billion across Shanghai and Hong Kong, equal to 0.36% of Chinese output.
- Nemotronplace 10
22.1B combined (2010) → ~$31.8B (2026); 0.5% of China GDP — briefly largest combined, all primary.
- StepFunplace 5
The last of China's big four banks to list raised $22.1bn — a record that lasted weeks and is barely remembered now.
- DeepSeekplace 6
A bank recapitalisation so large it briefly ranked as the world’s biggest IPO — 0.33% of China’s GDP.
- Wenxinplace 4
22.1 bn split between Shanghai and Hong Kong — still China's biggest IPO in dollars at the time, with a huge fresh capital raise.
- Kimiplace 6
The last of China's big-four banks listed in one week across two exchanges, raising $19.2bn — and about 40% of the Shanghai tranche was placed with strategic investors like China Life rather than the open market.
8 AIs put it here - 2
Saudi Aramco IPO (2019)
$25.6bn ($33.2bn today) was about 3.2% of Saudi GDP, about 13 times SpaceX's weight in its economy. Every riyal went to the state.
Included it: Claude, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, Nova, StepFun, DeepSeek, Wenxin. Did not include: Kimi.In their lists: Claude: 1 · Meta: 2 · Gemini: 1 · Nemotron: 1 · Nova · StepFun: 4 · DeepSeek: 2 · Wenxin: 1
What each AI noted 8
- Claudeplace 1
$25.6bn was about 3% of Saudi GDP, many times the share of any other record IPO, and it was the whole state selling a slice of its national champion.
Source ↗ - Metaplace 2
25.6B at $8.53, 29.4B with greenshoe, 3.23% of Saudi GDP – state kept 98.5%
Source ↗ - Geminiplace 1
A national float that equaled 3.2% of Saudi Arabia's entire economy, providing $29.4 billion to fund the kingdom's sovereign Vision 2030 transformation.
- Nemotronplace 1
$25.6B (2019) → ~$31.5B (2026$); 2.9% of Saudi GDP — largest ever in real terms and by GDP share for a major economy.
- Nova
Named differently in its own list: open the full list.
- StepFunplace 4
$25.6bn was about 3.2% of Saudi Arabia's entire GDP — and not one dollar of it reached the company.
- DeepSeekplace 2
The biggest IPO in history until 2026 — and still the biggest as a share of its home economy among trillion-dollar listings.
- Wenxinplace 1
25.6 bn in Riyadh — a single listing worth more than the entire GDP of Iceland in 2026 dollars.
Source ↗
8 AIs put it here - 3
Alibaba IPO (2014)
$21.8bn is about $30.5bn today, but only about 0.21% of China's GDP. Just 38% was new money; the rest went to early backers such as Yahoo.
Included it: Claude, Meta, Gemini, Nova, StepFun, DeepSeek, Wenxin, Kimi. Did not include: Nemotron.In their lists: Claude: 7 · Meta: 9 · Gemini: 8 · Nova · StepFun: 6 · DeepSeek: 4 · Wenxin: 2 · Kimi: 4
What each AI noted 8
- Claudeplace 7
The $21.8bn listing was the record until Aramco, but it was a US listing of a Chinese firm and equalled only about 0.2% of China's GDP.
Source ↗ - Metaplace 9
21.8B (25B greenshoe), 38% pop day one, largest US-listed until SpaceX despite being Chinese
Source ↗ - Geminiplace 8
History's largest e-commerce debut raised $25.0 billion, but bypassed Chinese exchanges via a Cayman VIE structure while funding $8.9 billion in founder and fund payouts.
- Nova
Named differently in its own list: open the full list.
- StepFunplace 6
Only 38% of Alibaba's $21.8bn was new money — the rest was early backers cashing out, Yahoo included.
Source ↗ - DeepSeekplace 4
The first $20bn-plus tech IPO; its greenshoe pushed the total to $25bn, then a record.
- Wenxinplace 2
21.8 bn on Wall Street — the e-commerce giant sold new shares but the real money went to Yahoo and SoftBank cashing out.
- Kimiplace 4
Jack Ma priced at $68 and the stock jumped 38% on debut — but only about 40% of the $21.8bn was new money for Alibaba; Yahoo alone pocketed ~$8.3bn.
Source ↗
8 AIs put it here - 4
SoftBank Corp IPO (2018)
Japan's record $21.3bn ($28.3bn today) was the parent cashing out, with no new capital for the business. It fell about 14.5% on debut, hitting retail buyers.
Included it: Claude, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, StepFun, DeepSeek, Wenxin, Kimi. Did not include: Nova.In their lists: Claude: 8 · Meta: 7 · Gemini: 7 · Nemotron: 3 · StepFun: 8 · DeepSeek: 5 · Wenxin: 3 · Kimi: 5
What each AI noted 8
- Claudeplace 8
Japan's largest IPO at $21.3bn, but it sold a stake in a mobile unit while SoftBank Group kept control, so little new money went into the economy.
Source ↗ - Metaplace 7
21.3B (23.5B greenshoe), Japan's biggest, 80% to domestic retail, then -14.5% day one
Source ↗ - Geminiplace 7
Masayoshi Son carved out his domestic telecom business to unlock $21.3 billion, transferring 0.42% of Japan's GDP into his global tech investment fund.
- Nemotronplace 3
21.4B (2018) → ~$26.3B (2026); 0.5% of Japan GDP — largest Japanese IPO, mostly secondary (SoftBank Group cash-out).
- StepFunplace 8
SoftBank Group sold its mobile arm for $21.3bn — a 100% cash-out by the seller, with no new capital for the business.
- DeepSeekplace 5
Japan’s biggest IPO was a $23.5bn sale of shares by its parent — the company itself raised nothing.
- Wenxinplace 3
21.4 bn in Tokyo — Japan's record, but almost all shares were SoftBank Group selling to SoftBank Corp itself.
- Kimiplace 5
Japan's biggest IPO was sold to the public as a household name — and burned them: the stock fell ~14.5% on debut, inflicting 'big losses on the retail investors who had mostly bought in'.
8 AIs put it here - 5
ICBC IPO (2006)
$19.1bn across Hong Kong and Shanghai is about $32bn today (estimate) and about 0.7% of China's GDP. Counting only the H-shares drops it to $23bn.
Included it: Claude, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, StepFun, DeepSeek, Kimi. Did not include: Nova, Wenxin.In their lists: Claude: 4 · Meta: 6 · Gemini: 3 · Nemotron: 9 · StepFun: 3 · DeepSeek: 7 · Kimi: 7
What each AI noted 7
- Claudeplace 4
Dual-listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai, it raised about $19bn, roughly 0.7% of China's economy then, and some sources count it as the biggest ever at that time.
Source ↗ - Metaplace 6
19.1B in 2006 = ∼28B today, 0.69% China GDP – first simultaneous H-share and A-share IPO
Source ↗ - Geminiplace 3
The dual-listed milestone that recapitalized Beijing's banking backbone, with $14 billion in brand-new equity and a size equal to 0.79% of Chinese GDP.
- Nemotronplace 9
21.9B combined (2006) → ~$34.2B (2026); 0.8% of China GDP — world's largest by combined proceeds if dual-listing counted.
- StepFunplace 3
China's biggest bank raised $21.9bn in 2006 — about $36.6bn in today's money, and the deal that made Hong Kong the world's IPO capital.
- DeepSeekplace 7
The first dual A/H listing; its $19.1bn total is either 0.7% of China’s GDP or 0.5%, depending on whether you count both tranches.
- Kimiplace 7
The first-ever simultaneous Hong Kong + Shanghai listing drew ~$500bn of orders and applications from one in seven Hong Kong residents — the template for Chinese state-bank mega-IPOs.
Source ↗
7 AIs put it here - 6
SpaceX IPO (2026)
$75bn, nearly three times any earlier IPO and all new money, yet only about 0.24% of US GDP. It is the biggest in dollars, not the heaviest for its economy.
Included it: Claude, Meta, Nova, StepFun, DeepSeek, Kimi. Did not include: Gemini, Nemotron, Wenxin.In their lists: Claude: 2 · Meta: 4 · Nova · StepFun: 1 · DeepSeek: 1 · Kimi: 1
What each AI noted 6
- Claudeplace 2
$75bn, nearly three times the previous record, yet only about 0.2% of US GDP, so it was the biggest in dollars without being the biggest for its economy.
Source ↗ - Metaplace 4
75B at $135, 86.3B with greenshoe, 18% of top 25 combined – 3x Aramco, $1.77T valuation
Source ↗ - Nova
Named differently in its own list: open the full list.
- StepFunplace 1
One IPO raised more than Aramco and Alibaba combined — roughly three times the old record, and structured as all new money for the company.
Source ↗ - DeepSeekplace 1
Three times Aramco’s record — yet only about a quarter of one percent of US GDP.
Source ↗ - Kimiplace 1
$75bn at $135 — nearly 3× Aramco's old record — yet only ~4% of the company, and essentially every dollar is new money for rockets, Starlink and orbital AI data centers.
6 AIs put it here - 7
NTT DoCoMo IPO (1998)
$18.4bn in 1998 is about $36.7bn today, ahead of Aramco in real terms, but only about 0.45% of Japan's GDP.
Included it: Claude, Meta, Nemotron, StepFun, DeepSeek, Kimi. Did not include: Gemini, Nova, Wenxin.In their lists: Claude: 6 · Meta: 5 · Nemotron: 4 · StepFun: 2 · DeepSeek: 8 · Kimi: 8
What each AI noted 6
- Claudeplace 6
$18.4bn (Dealroom's table) or $18.1bn (its text), about 0.45% of Japan's GDP. Parent NTT later bought back the roughly 34% float.
Source ↗ - Metaplace 5
18.4B in 1998 = ∼34B today, 0.47% Japan GDP – parent NTT bought it back for $40B in 2020
Source ↗ - Nemotronplace 4
18.1B (1998) → ~$35.1B (2026) — #1 in inflation-adjusted dollars; 0.7% of Japan GDP.
- StepFunplace 2
Adjusted for inflation, Japan's 1998 mobile-phone sale ($18.4bn then) is a $38bn deal today — bigger than Aramco's.
- DeepSeekplace 8
In today’s money it is the second-largest IPO ever — a 1998 Japanese government sell-down.
- Kimiplace 8
Sold in the teeth of Japan's worst postwar recession, the ¥2.1tn float was a triumph — and in 2026 dollars (~$37bn) it is still bigger than Alibaba's or Aramco's raises.
6 AIs put it here - 8
Visa IPO (2008)
$17.9bn, about $27.9bn today, was only about 0.12% of US GDP. Some $11.9bn of it went to buy out member banks rather than into the company.
Included it: Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek, Wenxin, Kimi. Did not include: Claude, Nova, StepFun.In their lists: Meta: 10 · Gemini: 10 · Nemotron: 5 · DeepSeek: 10 · Wenxin: 8 · Kimi: 9
What each AI noted 6
- Metaplace 10
17.9B in March 2008 crisis, 60.9% of all 2008 US IPO proceeds – only billion+ deal that year
Source ↗ - Geminiplace 10
America's largest corporate IPO raised $17.9 billion on the eve of the Lehman collapse, restructuring its bank-owned cooperative into public equity.
- Nemotronplace 5
17.9B (2008) → ~$26.5B (2026); 0.12% of US GDP — largest US IPO ever, 100% secondary (banks cashing out).
- DeepSeekplace 10
The biggest US IPO before SpaceX — and mostly a sale by existing bank owners, not new capital for Visa.
- Wenxinplace 8
17.9 bn during the financial crisis — Visa's switch to public status funded the acquisition that became the world's largest card network.
- Kimiplace 9
Priced at the top of a raised range while banks were collapsing, then rose 28% on debut — but ~$11.9bn of the proceeds were earmarked to buy out member banks and $3bn to litigation escrow.
6 AIs put it here - 9
Enel IPO (1999)
Italy's state power sale of $16.45bn is about $32.6bn today. At about 1.3–1.4% of Italian GDP, it is second only to Aramco in economic weight among the ten.
Included it: Claude, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek. Did not include: Nova, StepFun, Wenxin, Kimi.In their lists: Claude: 3 · Meta: 3 · Gemini: 4 · Nemotron: 7 · DeepSeek: 9
What each AI noted 5
- Claudeplace 3
A $16.5bn state privatisation worth about 1.4% of Italian GDP in 1999, second only to Aramco in size relative to its economy.
Source ↗ - Metaplace 3
16.5B in 1999 = ∼30B today, 1.38% of Italy GDP – still Italy's record privatization
Source ↗ - Geminiplace 4
Europe's definitive privatization brought in 3.8 million Italian citizens and soaked up 1.39% of Italy's entire gross domestic product.
- Nemotronplace 7
16.5B (1999) → ~$31.2B (2026); 1.5% of Italy GDP — largest European privatization, all primary.
- DeepSeekplace 9
A 1999 Italian privatisation that raised 1.3% of GDP and brought in over 4 million retail investors.
5 AIs put it here - 10
Deutsche Telekom IPO (1996)
$13.3bn in 1996 is about $28.4bn today (estimate), effectively tied with SoftBank, and about 0.55% of Germany's GDP. It was Europe's biggest IPO.
Included it: Claude, StepFun. Did not include: Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, Nova, DeepSeek, Wenxin, Kimi.In their lists: Claude: 10 · StepFun: 10
What each AI noted 2
- Claudeplace 10
A $13bn state privatisation in Frankfurt and New York that opened retail share ownership to millions of Germans. It is about 0.5% of Germany's GDP.
Source ↗ - StepFunplace 10
Germany's 1996 privatization sale was $13.3bn then — about $28.4bn today, and still Europe's biggest IPO.
2 AIs put it here
02Worth knowing
What the AIs noticed while building the list.
Inflation reorders the list: NTT DoCoMo's $18.4bn from 1998 is $36.7bn in 2026 dollars, above Aramco's $33.2bn.
Most record IPOs were cash-outs by states or parents (Aramco, AIA, SoftBank Corp, Enel), not new money. SpaceX's all-new-share structure is the exception.
The 1987 NTT privatisation would come to roughly $40bn in today's money, but Dealroom says no reliable primary figure exists, so it is left off.
SK hynix's $26.5bn Nasdaq sale in 2026 is left off because the company was already listed in Seoul, which makes it a cross-listing rather than a true IPO.
03Questions people ask
What is the biggest IPO in history?
SpaceX, which raised $75bn at $135 a share on Nasdaq in June 2026, or about $85–86bn once the over-allotment was exercised.
Source ↗What was the biggest IPO in history before SpaceX?
Saudi Aramco in December 2019: $25.6bn at pricing, or $29.4bn with the over-allotment.
What is the biggest IPO in US history?
SpaceX at $75bn (2026). Before it, Alibaba's $21.8bn NYSE listing (2014) was the largest on a US exchange, and Visa's $17.9bn (2008) the largest by a US company.
What is the biggest IPO valuation in history?
SpaceX was valued at about $1.77tn at pricing, above Saudi Aramco's roughly $1.7tn in 2019.
04How we counted
In plain words, no formulas.
1The question
Top 10 biggest IPOs ever, in today's money and as a share of the home economy
2Why this topic
Published lists sort by dollars at the time. This one takes out inflation and weighs each IPO against its home economy, so 1990s telecom listings such as NTT DoCoMo and Deutsche Telekom take their real place and Jio gets an honest global position.
3Where it applies
global
4What we looked at
- Proceeds converted to 2026 dollars
- Proceeds as a share of the home country's GDP in the listing year
- New money for the company compared with shares sold by existing owners
- Dealroom: biggest IPOs of all time — Proceeds at pricing (before over-allotment) in dollars at the time
- Argaam: largest IPOs adjusted for US inflation — Published proceeds restated in 2026 dollars
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U — Converts each listing year's dollars into 2026 dollars where no published figure exists
- World Bank GDP (current US$) — Home-country GDP in the listing year, as the base for each deal's share of the economy
- SEC prospectuses and offer documents — Split between new shares for the company and shares sold by existing owners
5Who ranked
The leading AIs, each building its own list of ten independently and naming a source for every place: Claude, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, Nova, StepFun, DeepSeek, Wenxin, Kimi.
6How the places were set
The same entry written differently by different AIs was counted as one. The more AIs put an entry on their list, and the higher they put it, the higher its place. "AI agreement" shows how many of the AIs had it on their own list. Sources are only those the AIs found themselves; nothing was added by hand.
05Each AI's own list
🇺🇸 Claude10 places · 3 notes
The same question, answered by Claude alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1Saudi Aramco IPO (Saudi Arabia, 2019)
$25.6bn was about 3% of Saudi GDP, many times the share of any other record IPO, and it was the whole state selling a slice of its national champion.
Source ↗ - 2SpaceX IPO (US, 2026)
$75bn, nearly three times the previous record, yet only about 0.2% of US GDP, so it was the biggest in dollars without being the biggest for its economy.
Source ↗ - 3Enel IPO (Italy, 1999)
A $16.5bn state privatisation worth about 1.4% of Italian GDP in 1999, second only to Aramco in size relative to its economy.
Source ↗ - 4ICBC IPO (China, 2006)
Dual-listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai, it raised about $19bn, roughly 0.7% of China's economy then, and some sources count it as the biggest ever at that time.
Source ↗ - 5NTT privatisation IPO (Japan, 1987)
At $15.2bn per Dealroom, it was about 0.6% of Japan's GDP and about $40bn in 2026 money, though Dealroom itself flags that no reliable primary figure exists.
Source ↗ - 6NTT DoCoMo IPO (Japan, 1998)
$18.4bn (Dealroom's table) or $18.1bn (its text), about 0.45% of Japan's GDP. Parent NTT later bought back the roughly 34% float.
Source ↗ - 7Alibaba IPO (China company, NYSE, 2014)
The $21.8bn listing was the record until Aramco, but it was a US listing of a Chinese firm and equalled only about 0.2% of China's GDP.
Source ↗ - 8SoftBank Corp IPO (Japan, 2018)
Japan's largest IPO at $21.3bn, but it sold a stake in a mobile unit while SoftBank Group kept control, so little new money went into the economy.
Source ↗ - 9Agricultural Bank of China IPO (China, 2010)
A $19.2bn dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, about 0.3% of China's GDP, fresh capital for a state bank.
Source ↗ - 10Deutsche Telekom IPO (Germany, 1996)
A $13bn state privatisation in Frankfurt and New York that opened retail share ownership to millions of Germans. It is about 0.5% of Germany's GDP.
Source ↗
What Claude noticed
In 2026 dollars, the 1987 NTT privatisation ($15.2bn then) comes to roughly $40bn, which is larger than Aramco in real terms. Inflation reorders the list.
Many of the biggest IPOs were state privatisations or carve-outs, such as Enel, NTT, Deutsche Telekom, Aramco, AIA (from AIG) and SoftBank Corp. The money went to the sellers, not into the company.
The largest US IPO before SpaceX was Alibaba in 2014, at $21.8bn.
🇺🇸 Meta10 places · 4 notes
The same question, answered by Meta alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1AIA Group IPO (2010) Hong Kong
17.8B = 7.8% of Hong Kong GDP – biggest relative impact, AIG post-crisis divestiture
Source ↗ - 2Saudi Aramco IPO (2019) Tadawul
25.6B at $8.53, 29.4B with greenshoe, 3.23% of Saudi GDP – state kept 98.5%
Source ↗ - 3Enel IPO (1999) Italy
16.5B in 1999 = ∼30B today, 1.38% of Italy GDP – still Italy's record privatization
Source ↗ - 4SpaceX IPO (2026) Nasdaq
75B at $135, 86.3B with greenshoe, 18% of top 25 combined – 3x Aramco, $1.77T valuation
Source ↗ - 5NTT DoCoMo IPO (1998) Tokyo
18.4B in 1998 = ∼34B today, 0.47% Japan GDP – parent NTT bought it back for $40B in 2020
Source ↗ - 6ICBC IPO (2006) Hong Kong + Shanghai
19.1B in 2006 = ∼28B today, 0.69% China GDP – first simultaneous H-share and A-share IPO
Source ↗ - 7SoftBank Corp IPO (2018) Tokyo
21.3B (23.5B greenshoe), Japan's biggest, 80% to domestic retail, then -14.5% day one
Source ↗ - 8Agricultural Bank of China IPO (2010)
19.2B (22.1B greenshoe), held world record 2010-2014, 0.32% China GDP
Source ↗ - 9Alibaba Group IPO (2014) NYSE
21.8B (25B greenshoe), 38% pop day one, largest US-listed until SpaceX despite being Chinese
Source ↗ - 10Visa IPO (2008) NYSE
17.9B in March 2008 crisis, 60.9% of all 2008 US IPO proceeds – only billion+ deal that year
Source ↗
What Meta noticed
AIA's $17.8bn was 7.8% of Hong Kong's GDP in 2010 – 31x SpaceX's 0.25% of US GDP, showing relative economic weight matters more than dollar size.
SpaceX $75bn is 18% of all 25 biggest IPOs combined ($420.6bn) and nearly 3x Aramco's $25.6bn record it broke.
Aramco and AIA were 100% secondary sales – government or AIG cashing out – vs Visa and SpaceX primary sales funding growth.
In 2026 dollars, 1990s giants double: NTT DoCoMo $18.4bn in 1998 = ∼$34bn today and Enel $16.5bn = ∼$30bn, both above Visa's nominal $17.9bn.
🇺🇸 Gemini10 places · 3 notes
The same question, answered by Gemini alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1Saudi Aramco (2019, Saudi Arabia)
A national float that equaled 3.2% of Saudi Arabia's entire economy, providing $29.4 billion to fund the kingdom's sovereign Vision 2030 transformation.
- 2AIA Group (2010, Hong Kong)
Equal to a stunning 8.9% of Hong Kong's GDP, American International Group floated its Asian crown jewel to repay US taxpayers after the financial crisis.
- 3Industrial and Commercial Bank of China / ICBC (2006, China)
The dual-listed milestone that recapitalized Beijing's banking backbone, with $14 billion in brand-new equity and a size equal to 0.79% of Chinese GDP.
- 4Enel (1999, Italy)
Europe's definitive privatization brought in 3.8 million Italian citizens and soaked up 1.39% of Italy's entire gross domestic product.
- 5Nippon Telegraph and Telephone / NTT (1987, Japan)
At the height of Tokyo's asset boom, Japan raised $15.3 billion—surpassing $42 billion in today's money and representing 0.61% of national GDP.
- 6Agricultural Bank of China (2010, China)
The final piece of China's state-banking overhaul raised $22.1 billion across Shanghai and Hong Kong, equal to 0.36% of Chinese output.
- 7SoftBank Corp. (2018, Japan)
Masayoshi Son carved out his domestic telecom business to unlock $21.3 billion, transferring 0.42% of Japan's GDP into his global tech investment fund.
- 8Alibaba Group (2014, China / US Listing)
History's largest e-commerce debut raised $25.0 billion, but bypassed Chinese exchanges via a Cayman VIE structure while funding $8.9 billion in founder and fund payouts.
- 9General Motors (2010, United States)
A $20.1 billion post-bankruptcy relisting where 100% of proceeds helped the US government wind down its 'Government Motors' bailout stake.
- 10Visa Inc. (2008, United States)
America's largest corporate IPO raised $17.9 billion on the eve of the Lehman collapse, restructuring its bank-owned cooperative into public equity.
What Gemini noticed
The GDP impact divergence: Mega-IPOs in financial centers and smaller economies had far larger domestic macroeconomic stakes than US giants—AIA Group represented 8.9% of Hong Kong's GDP and Saudi Aramco 3.2% of Saudi Arabia's GDP, whereas Visa and GM represented barely 0.12% to 0.13% of US GDP.
The secondary-cashout prevalence: Only 2 of history's 10 largest global IPOs (ICBC and Agricultural Bank of China) channeled the majority of raised funds into primary company balance sheets for expansion; the rest were state asset privatizations or corporate carve-out cash extractions.
The inflation effect on vintage offerings: In constant 2026 dollars, Japan's 1987 NTT privatization exceeds $42.4 billion, demonstrating that 20th-century public utility listings mobilized equivalent or greater real purchasing power than modern tech debuts.
🇺🇸 Nemotron10 places · 2 notes
The same question, answered by Nemotron alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1Saudi Aramco IPO (2019, Saudi Arabia)
$25.6B (2019) → ~$31.5B (2026$); 2.9% of Saudi GDP — largest ever in real terms and by GDP share for a major economy.
- 2Alibaba Group IPO (2014, USA/China)
$21.8B (2014) → ~$28.2B (2026); 0.2% of China GDP — largest on NYSE, but tiny vs Chinese economy.
- 3SoftBank Corp IPO (2018, Japan)
21.4B (2018) → ~$26.3B (2026); 0.5% of Japan GDP — largest Japanese IPO, mostly secondary (SoftBank Group cash-out).
- 4NTT Docomo IPO (1998, Japan)
18.1B (1998) → ~$35.1B (2026) — #1 in inflation-adjusted dollars; 0.7% of Japan GDP.
- 5Visa Inc. IPO (2008, USA)
17.9B (2008) → ~$26.5B (2026); 0.12% of US GDP — largest US IPO ever, 100% secondary (banks cashing out).
- 6AIA Group IPO (2010, Hong Kong)
17.8B (2010) → ~$25.6B (2026); 0.9% of HK GDP — largest HK IPO, mostly primary for Prudential spin-off.
- 7Enel SpA IPO (1999, Italy)
16.5B (1999) → ~$31.2B (2026); 1.5% of Italy GDP — largest European privatization, all primary.
- 8Meta (Facebook) IPO (2012, USA)
16.0B (2012) → ~$21.8B (2026); 0.1% of US GDP — legendary hype, flat first year, then 10-bagger.
- 9Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) IPO (2006, Hong Kong/Shanghai)
21.9B combined (2006) → ~$34.2B (2026); 0.8% of China GDP — world's largest by combined proceeds if dual-listing counted.
- 10Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) IPO (2010, Hong Kong/Shanghai)
22.1B combined (2010) → ~$31.8B (2026); 0.5% of China GDP — briefly largest combined, all primary.
What Nemotron noticed
In 2026 dollars, NTT Docomo (1998) and ICBC (2006) surpass Aramco — inflation rewrites history. Aramco wins on % of home GDP (2.9%) among major economies.
Aramco's 2.9% of Saudi GDP is unique: a sovereign monetizing a national champion. No other top-10 IPO exceeded 1.5% of home GDP.
🇨🇳 StepFun10 places · 2 notes
The same question, answered by StepFun alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1SpaceX IPO (2026, United States)
One IPO raised more than Aramco and Alibaba combined — roughly three times the old record, and structured as all new money for the company.
Source ↗ - 2NTT Docomo IPO (1998, Japan)
Adjusted for inflation, Japan's 1998 mobile-phone sale ($18.4bn then) is a $38bn deal today — bigger than Aramco's.
- 3ICBC IPO (2006, China)
China's biggest bank raised $21.9bn in 2006 — about $36.6bn in today's money, and the deal that made Hong Kong the world's IPO capital.
- 4Saudi Aramco IPO (2019, Saudi Arabia)
$25.6bn was about 3.2% of Saudi Arabia's entire GDP — and not one dollar of it reached the company.
- 5Agricultural Bank of China IPO (2010, China)
The last of China's big four banks to list raised $22.1bn — a record that lasted weeks and is barely remembered now.
- 6Alibaba IPO (2014, China)
Only 38% of Alibaba's $21.8bn was new money — the rest was early backers cashing out, Yahoo included.
Source ↗ - 7AIA IPO (2010, Hong Kong)
One IPO equalled about 9% of Hong Kong's entire GDP — the biggest share sale any economy has ever absorbed.
- 8SoftBank Corp IPO (2018, Japan)
SoftBank Group sold its mobile arm for $21.3bn — a 100% cash-out by the seller, with no new capital for the business.
- 9SK hynix US listing (2026, South Korea)
$26.5bn in one morning — but the 'IPO' was a US shelf for shares already trading in Seoul.
Source ↗ - 10Deutsche Telekom IPO (1996, Germany)
Germany's 1996 privatization sale was $13.3bn then — about $28.4bn today, and still Europe's biggest IPO.
What StepFun noticed
SpaceX's $75bn is bigger than Saudi Aramco and Alibaba put together ($47.4bn at the time) — the first IPO to triple the previous record.
On a share-of-GDP basis the ranking looks nothing like the dollar ranking: AIA's $20.5bn was about 9% of Hong Kong's economy, Aramco about 3.2% of Saudi Arabia's, while SpaceX's $75bn is only ~0.23% of the US.
🇨🇳 DeepSeek10 places · 3 notes
The same question, answered by DeepSeek alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1SpaceX IPO (United States, 2026)
Three times Aramco’s record — yet only about a quarter of one percent of US GDP.
Source ↗ - 2Saudi Aramco IPO (Saudi Arabia, 2019)
The biggest IPO in history until 2026 — and still the biggest as a share of its home economy among trillion-dollar listings.
- 3AIA Group IPO (Hong Kong, 2010)
A $17.8bn sale that equaled 7.8% of Hong Kong’s entire GDP — and none of it went to AIA.
- 4Alibaba IPO (China, 2014)
The first $20bn-plus tech IPO; its greenshoe pushed the total to $25bn, then a record.
- 5SoftBank Corp IPO (Japan, 2018)
Japan’s biggest IPO was a $23.5bn sale of shares by its parent — the company itself raised nothing.
- 6Agricultural Bank of China IPO (China, 2010)
A bank recapitalisation so large it briefly ranked as the world’s biggest IPO — 0.33% of China’s GDP.
- 7ICBC IPO (China, 2006)
The first dual A/H listing; its $19.1bn total is either 0.7% of China’s GDP or 0.5%, depending on whether you count both tranches.
- 8NTT DoCoMo IPO (Japan, 1998)
In today’s money it is the second-largest IPO ever — a 1998 Japanese government sell-down.
- 9Enel IPO (Italy, 1999)
A 1999 Italian privatisation that raised 1.3% of GDP and brought in over 4 million retail investors.
- 10Visa IPO (United States, 2008)
The biggest US IPO before SpaceX — and mostly a sale by existing bank owners, not new capital for Visa.
What DeepSeek noticed
SpaceX raised nearly three times Aramco’s $25.6bn, but Aramco’s proceeds equaled about 3% of Saudi GDP while SpaceX’s equaled only about 0.25% of US GDP — absolute size and economic weight are not the same thing.
Inflation adjustment changes the ranking: NTT DoCoMo’s 1998 $18.4bn becomes $36.7bn in 2026 dollars, above Aramco’s inflation-adjusted $33.2bn.
SpaceX is unusual among mega-IPOs because all the shares were newly issued; most of the historical giants were partly or wholly secondary sales by governments or parents.
🇨🇳 Wenxin10 places · 1 notes
The same question, answered by Wenxin alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1Saudi Aramco IPO 2019 (Saudi Arabia)
25.6 bn in Riyadh — a single listing worth more than the entire GDP of Iceland in 2026 dollars.
Source ↗ - 2Alibaba Group IPO 2014 (China / NYSE)
21.8 bn on Wall Street — the e-commerce giant sold new shares but the real money went to Yahoo and SoftBank cashing out.
- 3SoftBank Corp IPO 2018 (Japan)
21.4 bn in Tokyo — Japan's record, but almost all shares were SoftBank Group selling to SoftBank Corp itself.
- 4Agricultural Bank of China IPO 2010 (China)
22.1 bn split between Shanghai and Hong Kong — still China's biggest IPO in dollars at the time, with a huge fresh capital raise.
- 5Saudi Aramco — Secondary Offering 2020 (Saudi Arabia)
29.4 bn in a single day's sale — still no other company in any country has raised this much cash in 24 hours of trading.
Source ↗ - 6Ant Group IPO 2020 (cancelled — China)
34.5 bn planned — never happened, but if it had, it would have been the single largest raise in the history of capital markets, ever.
- 7Facebook (Meta) IPO 2012 (United States)
16 bn in Silicon Valley — the largest US tech IPO at the time, but founders and early VCs cashed out most of it.
- 8Visa IPO 2008 (United States)
17.9 bn during the financial crisis — Visa's switch to public status funded the acquisition that became the world's largest card network.
- 9General Motors IPO 2010 (United States)
18.1 bn post-bankruptcy — the US government cashed in its rescue stake and handed a new GM to public shareholders.
- 10Enel Green Power IPO 2010 (Italy)
€9.2 bn (~11.6 bn) — Europe's biggest ever, an Italian state utility that sold shares to fund renewable energy across the continent.
What Wenxin noticed
Aramco's 2019 IPO (4.3% of Saudi GDP) and its 2020 secondary (4.5%) together handed the Saudi sovereign wealth fund more cash in two years than most countries' entire annual budgets.
🇨🇳 Kimi10 places · 2 notes
The same question, answered by Kimi alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1SpaceX IPO (2026, USA)
$75bn at $135 — nearly 3× Aramco's old record — yet only ~4% of the company, and essentially every dollar is new money for rockets, Starlink and orbital AI data centers.
- 2SK hynix IPO (2026, South Korea — Nasdaq)
A Korean champion floated in New York: $26.5bn of brand-new shares (~2.5% of the company) to fund memory-chip capacity — roughly 1.3% of South Korea's entire annual GDP.
- 3Saudi Aramco IPO (2019)
The state sold 1.5% of the family jewel for $25.6bn — about 3.2% of Saudi Arabia's entire GDP — with foreign investors providing less than a quarter of demand; it was a domestic national project as much as a share sale.
- 4Alibaba IPO (2014, China — NYSE)
Jack Ma priced at $68 and the stock jumped 38% on debut — but only about 40% of the $21.8bn was new money for Alibaba; Yahoo alone pocketed ~$8.3bn.
Source ↗ - 5SoftBank Corp IPO (2018, Japan)
Japan's biggest IPO was sold to the public as a household name — and burned them: the stock fell ~14.5% on debut, inflicting 'big losses on the retail investors who had mostly bought in'.
- 6Agricultural Bank of China IPO (2010)
The last of China's big-four banks listed in one week across two exchanges, raising $19.2bn — and about 40% of the Shanghai tranche was placed with strategic investors like China Life rather than the open market.
- 7ICBC IPO (2006, China)
The first-ever simultaneous Hong Kong + Shanghai listing drew ~$500bn of orders and applications from one in seven Hong Kong residents — the template for Chinese state-bank mega-IPOs.
Source ↗ - 8NTT DoCoMo IPO (1998, Japan)
Sold in the teeth of Japan's worst postwar recession, the ¥2.1tn float was a triumph — and in 2026 dollars (~$37bn) it is still bigger than Alibaba's or Aramco's raises.
- 9Visa IPO (2008, USA)
Priced at the top of a raised range while banks were collapsing, then rose 28% on debut — but ~$11.9bn of the proceeds were earmarked to buy out member banks and $3bn to litigation escrow.
- 10AIA IPO (2010, Hong Kong)
AIG sold 58% of its Asian crown jewel for $17.8bn — 100% exit money to repay US taxpayers — equal to roughly 8% of Hong Kong's entire GDP, the heaviest home-economy hit on this list.
Source ↗
What Kimi noticed
Relative to the home economy, AIA (≈8% of Hong Kong's annual GDP) and Aramco (≈3.2% of Saudi GDP) dwarf everything else on the list — while SpaceX, three times their size in dollars, moved only ≈0.24% of US GDP. 'Mattered most' and 'raised most' are different rankings.
Biggest ≠ rewarding: Japan's record IPO (SoftBank Corp, $21.3bn) fell ~14.5% on debut mostly burning retail buyers, and India's record (LIC, ₹21,008 cr) lost 40% in year one while Nifty gained 11.8% — record-size issues are often someone else's exit.