What are we to make of Saudi Arabia’s investment in Uber?

The desert kingdom agreed last week to put $3.5 billion into the ride-sharing service. It is one of the single largest investments in a start-up ever, and Saudi Arabia’s 5 percent stake values Uber at $62.5 billion, making it by far the most valuable pre-I.P.O. company in Silicon Valley.

But the comparisons don’t end there. For example:

■ Saudi Arabia pumps about 9.7 million barrels of oil a day, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. With oil at close to $50 a barrel, this was about seven days’ production. That doesn’t sound like much.

■ At this valuation, Uber is worth $10 billion more than Ford, $20 billion more than General Motors, and twice as much as Tesla. It’s worth more than three times as much as American Airlines, and four times as much as United Airlines. That sounds like a lot, provided Uber someday turns those make-believe values into real ones.

■ Uber’s value is about the same as the value by which Google increased in one day last July. Tech really is magical! So maybe this valuation, for a ride-sharing company that increasingly draws investors and consumers worldwide, is not so much.