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The world's most profitable business is Saudi Aramco, an oil company

Posted at 6:16 AM, Apr 01, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-01 08:16:06-04

Saudi Aramco, divulging its finances for the first time, revealed that it is the world's most profitable company.

The Saudi oil company made $111 billion last year, according to a note from Moody's. The rating agency based that on a prospectus for a massive bond offering Aramco expects to use to help finance the purchase 70 percent of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation. Aramco hopes to buy the state-owned petrochemical company for $69.1 billion.

It is the first public disclosure of earnings by Aramco in the decades it has been owned by the Saudi government.

By comparison, Apple, the world's most profitable public company, made $59.4 billion in 2018, just more than half as much as Aramco. ExxonMobil made $20.8 billion.