Worldwide, Japanese messaging company Line is the biggest IPO of a tech company since First Data which went public in October 2015 in a $2.8 billion deal. Line has 200 million active monthly users, although it is nowhere near the 1 billion by WhatsApp. Line, however, makes most of its money by selling games and in-app stickers. After raining $1.14 billion in its highly anticipated IPO earlier this week, Line is now officially the biggest company to go public on a US stock exchange this year. Among all industries, there were three IPOs larger than Line’s foreign stock exchanges in 2016. This includes Dong Energy raising the equivalent of $2.6 billion in Copenhagen; Zheshang Bank raining $1.7 billion in Hong Kong; and Danish ASR Nederland raining $1.2 billion. But, these companies pale in comparison to the biggest IPOs in the history of all time. Here’s an all-comprising list of the biggest IPOs in history.
Ten Biggest IPOs in History
ALIBABA
The Alibaba Holdings Group is a diversified ecommerce company based in China. It debuted on September 18, 2014 raising $21.8 billion. A few days later when more shares were available, the IPO came to a total of $25 billion. While technology companies prefer listing on NASDAQ, Alibaba went to the New York Stock Exchange. Underwritten by Credit Suisse before Alibala reached record-breaking valuations.
ABC Bank
ABC Bank, also known as the Agricultural Bank of China, is one of China’s five largest banks. It raised $19.228 billion on July 7, 2010. Underwritten by Goldman Sachs Asia, it pulled in the total to $22 billion. China’s biggest lender by customers exercised the greenshoe option, under which an underwriter is allowed to increase the number of shares issues within 30 days of the start of the trading where there is an excess in demand.
ICBC Bank
Third from the Mainland to go public and the largest mainland Chinese bank, the ICBC Bank went public on October 20, 2006. It raised a total of $19.092 billion.
NTT DoCoMo
The Japanese mobile carrier, went public on October 22, 1998. It fetched a total of $18.099 billion. Underwritten by Goldman Sachs Asia, NTT DoCoMo became the third largest Japanese company by market capitalization.
Visa Inc.
The debit and credit card processing company debuted on March 18, 2008. It raised a total of $17.864 billion, in spite of the ongoing global financial crisis. It is the largest IPO for any US-based company.
AIA
The Hong Kong-based investment and insurance company went public on October 21, 2010 and raised $17.8 billion.
Enel
The Italian energy group went public on November 1, 1999 and raised $16.4 billion. It is the only utility company among the list of the biggest IPOs in history.
The social network is surely the most-hyped IPO in corporate history. It raised $16 billion and went public on May 1, 2012.
General Motors
General Motors Co. went public on November 17, 2010 a year after emerging from a major bankruptcy. It raised a total of $15.7 billion in its initial public offering.
Nippon Tel
The oldest IPO on the list, the Japanese telecommunications company raised $15 billion on February 8, 1987.
