Saudi Aramco - World's most profitable company

[Bobby P + 88]

https://www.ft.com/content/b19c9228-545d-11e9-a3db-1fe89bedc16e 

In light of Aramco declared as the world's most profitable company in the global economy, is anyone surprised? And what are your thoughts on this?

[HermitMunster + 146]

If they are, then why were they so desperate to sell bonds?

[John Foote + 1,135]

Read the numbers. Very profitable on a total level, but profit per barrel is pretty average.

And that is a gross profit. Toss in taxes and royalties, it's still profitable, but not OMG so. 

And that's the challenge, funding the Kingdom. The numbers literally, even on this hand work non-GAAP accounting, don't add up, for revenue, expense, profits, taxes, and dividends.

And yes, on one level pretty odd they need to sell bonds. Remember it's not just what you make, it's what you spend, and MBS has big spend list.

[Ian Austin + 131]

On 4/1/2019 at 7:03 PM, John Foote said:

Read the numbers. Very profitable on a total level, but profit per barrel is pretty average.

And that is a gross profit. Toss in taxes and royalties, it's still profitable, but not OMG so. 

And that's the challenge, funding the Kingdom. The numbers literally, even on this hand work non-GAAP accounting, don't add up, for revenue, expense, profits, taxes, and dividends.

And yes, on one level pretty odd they need to sell bonds. Remember it's not just what you make, it's what you spend, and MBS has big spend list.

Of course it’s odd that US Shale companies do so as well, given the 100+% ROIs they enjoy. 

So are they both equally FOS?