Saudi Aramco is the world's most profitable company

New York(CNN Business) 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% of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation. Aramco hopes to buy that stake in 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 (AAPL), the world's most profitable public company, made $59.4 billion in 2018, just over half as much as Aramco. ExxonMobil (XOM), the largest US oil company, made $20.8 billion, while Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), the largest publicly traded oil company, made $23.4 billion.

Aramco had revenue of $355.9 billion, according to the Moody's note, and $48.8 billion of cash on the books at the end of last year. That's far more than its debt of $27 billion. It was helped by a 31% increase average oil prices in 2018 compared to 2017.

Aramco planned to go public last year. It would have put 5% of the company up for sale in what might have been the largest initial public offering ever. The Saudis were reportedly looking to raise $100 billion in the offering, which would value the company at $2 trillion, or twice as much as Microsoft (MSFT), the most valuable public company with a market value of $904.8 billion.

But the offering never came to pass.