How many joint stock companies are in Saudi Arabia?
The joint stock company is the vehicle for large and listed businesses: capital is divided into negotiable shares, it is run by a board, and it is the only form that can offer shares to the public on Tadawul. Minimum capital is SAR 500,000.
12.8K
active registrations — 0.7% of all commercial registrations in the Kingdom.
Ministry of Commerce data · Q2 2026
There are 12,832 active joint stock companies in Saudi Arabia as of 30 June 2026, 0.7% of all active commercial registrations. 19 were created in Q2 2026 and still active at quarter end — <0.1% of new registrations.
Riyadh (7,335), Makkah (2,424) and the Eastern Province (1,921) hold the most, together 91% of the national total.
- Active registrations
- 12,832
- 0.7% of all CRs
- Registered in Q2 2026
- 19
- <0.1% of new registrations
- Largest region
- Riyadh
- 7,335 registrations
- Regions present
- 13
- of 13
By region
Active registrations by region
Saudi and foreign shareholders; foreign participation requires a MISA licence.
Common questions
How many joint stock companies are there in Saudi Arabia?
12,832 active registrations as of 30 June 2026, according to Ministry of Commerce data — 0.7% of all active commercial registrations.
How many were registered in Q2 2026?
19 registrations created in Q2 2026 were still active at quarter end.
Who can use this structure?
Saudi and foreign shareholders; foreign participation requires a MISA licence.
Figures are Alpha Consultancy's analysis of the Ministry of Commerce's open datasets on the Saudi Open Data Platform (open.data.gov.sa): the register of active commercial registrations (CRs) as of 30 June 2026.
Active CRsinclude main and branch registrations, as in the Ministry's own totals. Registered in a period counts CRs created in that period that were still active on 30 June 2026; registrations since cancelled are not in the source file, so older periods read lower than the number originally issued.
The Ministry's extract is dated 30 June 2026; it was taken at the start of that day, so registrations created on the reference date itself are not included.
No individual business is identified on these pages; only aggregate counts are published.
Not sure which structure fits?
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