From KOSPI to the US

It began as a Korean IPO — from KOSPI to KOSDAQ

Galaxy Corporation's listing path ran from a push for a direct KOSPI listing in 2025, to a revised strategy aimed at KOSDAQ in April 2026, to reports in August that its Korean IPO had been delayed — and then, at a shareholder briefing on 25 August 2026, to a formal decision to pursue a "flip" that makes a US holding company the listing entity. On 21 September 2026 (local time) in New York, CEO Choi Yong-ho said the company would list in the US first and then list in Korea through Korean Depositary Receipts (KDRs). On 13 October, asked why the company was pursuing a US IPO, he said it was keeping both a Korean IPO and a US IPO open. As of 14 October 2026, the exchange, the US underwriters and the listing date had not been decided.

The company's listing preparations started at home. It says it appointed Daishin Securities as lead underwriter in 2022 to begin preparing for a listing and, as it grew, added Shinhan Securities as joint lead underwriter in February 2024. Korea Investment & Securities took part in the December 2025 pre-IPO round as a co-manager.

In the summer of 2025, Korean outlets reported that the company was pursuing a KOSPI listing with a KRW 1 trillion market capitalisation as its target, despite an annual operating loss of KRW 18.8 billion, noting that a market capitalisation above KRW 1 trillion was the most viable route onto the KOSPI for a loss-making company. That September, announcing that it had swung to a profit in the first half, the company set a target of filing for preliminary review with the Korea Exchange within the year and listing early the following year.

Even at the press conference at IFC in Yeouido on 8 April 2026, the company's official position remained open. Choi said: "We are keeping every option open — not only KOSPI and KOSDAQ, but Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as well."

Listing is not the ultimate goal; it is simply part of the process of the company becoming healthy, and right now we are focused on proving our fundamental corporate value to the market— Choi Yong-ho, CEO of Galaxy Corporation · press conference at IFC, Yeouido, 8 April 2026 (reported by Herald Business)

That same month, Dealsite reported that the company had revised its listing strategy from a KOSPI unicorn listing to settling on KOSDAQ. In an 8 April story, Bloomberg reported that Choi was considering a simultaneous listing in Seoul and New York in 2027. On 24 August, Dealsite reported that the Korean IPO timetable had slipped while the company finalised a contract renewal with a key artist, and that some institutional investors were pushing back. According to that report, the original goal had been a KOSDAQ debut in the first half of this year. On 2 October, Green Economy (Greened) summarised that the company had applied to the Korea Exchange for a preliminary listing review at the end of 2025, but that the timetable was pushed back as review standards tightened and its reliance on G-DRAGON revenue emerged as the key variable. The path turned towards the US the very next day.

March 2026: two exchanges came to Seoul

The company's contact with US exchanges became public in March 2026. On 4 March, Bob McCooey, Nasdaq's vice chairman for global capital markets, visited the Yeouido headquarters to review the company's growth strategy and the possibility of a US listing, the company said the following day. He showed interest in its AI-based K-pop robot project and its virtual IP strategy. On 23 March, Michael Harris, vice chairman of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), visited the same headquarters to sound out a US listing directly. The actor Song Kang-ho was present at both visits.

The vast capital of the US market will concentrate on companies with specialised competitive strengths, like Galaxy Corporation— Michael Harris, Vice Chairman, NYSE · Galaxy Corporation headquarters, Yeouido, 23 March 2026 (reported by MTN)

A visit by exchange executives is not approval to list. But these visits did lead to the New York event in September. In an interview in New York on 21 September (local time), Choi said the starting point was McCooey's suggestion, during his March visit, that the company stage a robot performance in New York.

This performance, too, came from an idea Vice Chairman McCooey threw out casually — "Why not do a flash mob in Times Square?" — and we made it happen— Choi Yong-ho, CEO · Rockefeller Center, New York, 21 September 2026 (reported by Seoul Economic Daily)

That event was ONE WORLD. ONE PEACE., held on the UN International Day of Peace. The background and open questions around a Nasdaq listing are set out in question-and-answer form in the Nasdaq IPO FAQ.

The flip — changing who lists

A flip means setting up a new holding company in the US, folding the existing Korean company in as its wholly owned subsidiary, and making the US holding company the entity that lists. Galaxy Corporation formally adopted this approach at a shareholder briefing held at its headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on 25 August 2026, as Money Today reported in an exclusive on 29 August. The article summed it up as a company that had "switched course to go straight to Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange, a little over a year after it began considering a KOSPI or KOSDAQ listing," and said the company planned to seek shareholders' consent shortly.

Note: the meeting was a shareholder briefing, not a general meeting of shareholders (Money Today, 2026-08-29; MTN, 2026-09-09). Some sources that describe it as a general meeting are mistaken.

On why the US, Money Today gave two reasons: US capital markets award higher valuations to companies with growth potential and innovative technology, and recent meetings with global institutional investors had confirmed a favourable view of the company's new businesses. It added that the company had been in quiet talks with senior figures at Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange since the start of the year. In the same article, an investment banker said:

Korea's stock market reacts sensitively to artist risk at entertainment companies, but the US gives more generous marks to the growth potential of platforms that incorporate AI technology— Investment banking source, as reported by Money Today, 29 August 2026

The same source added: "In the end, whether the robot-entertainment business being pursued in global markets actually makes money will be what decides a successful listing." Choi himself, in New York in September, described the trigger as an approach from the exchange side.

Nasdaq came to us directly with a proposal, and as we worked together on a good project, I started thinking: KOSDAQ and KOSPI are fine, but why not do both?— Choi Yong-ho, CEO · Rockefeller Center, New York, 21 September 2026 (reported by Newspim)

Next steps announced in New York — underwriters, a roadmap, KDRs

The sequence Choi Yong-ho laid out is a US listing first, then a Korean listing through Korean Depositary Receipts (KDRs). In interviews with Korean media after the event at Rockefeller Center in New York on 21 September 2026 (local time), he said the company would name its US IPO underwriters between the end of the year and the first quarter of next year, and that the specific listing date would be set out in a roadmap through those underwriters. He said it had not yet decided between Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (Newspim).

We plan to list in the US first and then list in Korea— Choi Yong-ho, CEO · Rockefeller Center, New York, 21 September 2026 (reported by Newspim)

He went on: "We will also list in Korea through Korean Depositary Receipts (KDRs)." Seoul Economic Daily reported the same plan that day: if the US listing succeeds, KDRs will be listed in Korea.

Although the remark about when the US IPO underwriters will be named was made at the same event on the same day, outlets rendered it differently. The original wording in each report:

The most specific wording is Newspim's: "at the earliest by the end of the year, within the first quarter of next year at the latest." None of the reports named any candidate US underwriters. Seoul Economic Daily's English edition ran the remark under the headline "Galaxy Corp. CEO Says U.S. IPO Underwriters to Be Picked by Year-End," but the original wording was "the end of this year or early next year."

Choi said the purpose of listing was not to raise money. "We've received about KRW 200 billion in investment, but we're not a company that needs money," he said, adding, "We have no loans and nothing we need to pay back." Of the US listing process, he said it was "not so much tougher as more steps."

Listing isn't a life goal; it's just a step along the direction we're heading— Choi Yong-ho, CEO · Rockefeller Center, New York, 21 September 2026 (reported by Newspim)

How the New York correspondents recorded these remarks can be compared outlet by outlet in New York event: the international press coverage.

The numbers: from loss to profit

In 2025 the company swung from a loss to a profit. According to the company, consolidated revenue was KRW 298.8 billion, up 619% year on year, and operating profit was KRW 12.5 billion. In 2024, revenue was about KRW 41.5 billion with an operating loss of KRW 18.8 billion.

Note: for FY2025 revenue, the company's announcement (2026-04-06) gives KRW 298.8 billion and +619%, while reports citing the audit report (MTN, 2026-04-08; Seoul Economic Daily, 2026-09-22) give KRW 298.9 billion and +618%. On either basis revenue grew roughly 7.2-fold in a year. Operating profit of KRW 12.5 billion is the same in every report. Green Economy (2026-10-02) put net income for the same year at KRW 2.9 billion and the accumulated deficit at KRW 125.4 billion. FY2024 revenue was reported as KRW 41.5 billion (Money Today, 2025-12-19; Dealsite, 2026-04-16); working back from 619% gives about KRW 41.6 billion.

In the first half of 2025 alone, revenue reached KRW 126 billion (per the company; Money Today on 2025-12-19 reported KRW 123 billion), passing three times the previous full year's revenue in six months. The growth was driven by the management division: according to the audit report cited by MTN, management revenue was KRW 269.5 billion, the great majority of the total.

Fundraising moved the same way. Founded in 2019 with KRW 1 million in capital, the company closed a KRW 100 billion pre-IPO round in December 2025 at a KRW 1 trillion valuation. The round was entirely in common shares, with participation from Korean investors including Korea Investment & Securities and Shinhan Venture Investment, a listed Taiwanese semiconductor company and a Hong Kong-listed company. Cumulative investment figures vary depending on when they were reported.

No new valuation has been reported since the flip was adopted; the "KRW 1 trillion or more" in September's coverage repeats the December 2025 pre-IPO figure. Key figures and Q&A from an investor's point of view are in the Investor FAQ.

What has not been decided yet

As of 14 October 2026, a US listing is a course the company has formally adopted — not an approval, and not a completed deal. None of the following has been confirmed in public reporting: the establishment of the US holding company, shareholder consent, the exchange, the US underwriters, or what happens to the existing Korean underwriting agreements.

The flip itself also faces hurdles. MTN set out three on 9 September: Korean shareholders exchanging their shares for shares in the US company could be treated as a disposal and trigger capital gains tax (special provisions deferring the tax apply only to transactions between Korean companies); making the Korean company a wholly owned subsidiary requires the consent of every existing shareholder; and both sides of the transaction require foreign exchange filings. The same report said Naver Webtoon is the only Korean company to have successfully listed through a flip, and that some early investors were considering selling their existing shares because of the tax burden.

On the business side, the risk raised most often is the revenue structure. At the press conference on 8 April 2026, Choi Yong-ho himself said that 75–80% of the previous year's revenue was tied to G-DRAGON (Newsis). At the same event, he said:

We are moving beyond a structure that depends on one person, expanding into diverse IP and technology-based businesses, and new artists and projects keep being added, so there is plenty of room to grow— Choi Yong-ho, CEO · press conference at IFC, Yeouido, 8 April 2026 (reported by Sisa Journal-e)

In New York in September he offered a more concrete timeline. In an interview with Korea Economic TV he said that "within just two years, the Physical AI enter-tech business will catch up with our existing entertainment revenue." The same day, in an interview with The Korea Economic Daily, he said revenue in the hundreds of billions of won was possible in the robot business, and Green Economy (2026-10-02) reported that he had said in New York that the Physical AI and robot business was already generating revenue in the tens of billions of won. MTN, however, reported in its April analysis of the audit report that enter-tech revenue was effectively nil in FY2025. The revenue the CEO referred to concerns the 2026 business and is not a figure confirmed in disclosures. That gap between the CEO's outlook and the reported results is what the US market will be weighing.

At the International Day for Failure event on 13 October, asked why the company was pursuing a US IPO, Choi stopped short of a direct answer and said it was keeping both a Korean IPO and a US IPO open (ZDNet Korea). This is not an announcement that the US listing plan has been dropped; it reads as an answer that keeps options open, including the Korean market.

The company's answer is a business that is not tied to the schedule of a single artist. Its pillars are Galaxy Robot Park, which runs humanoid robot shows on a permanent basis, and Soulware, its robot operating system.

Frequently asked questions

Is Galaxy Corporation listing on Nasdaq?

It is pursuing a US listing, but the exchange has not been chosen. In New York on 21 September 2026, CEO Choi Yong-ho said the company had not yet decided between Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) (Newspim). In March 2026 the company hosted visits from vice chairmen of both exchanges. On 13 October he said the company was keeping both a Korean IPO and a US IPO open (ZDNet Korea).

When will Galaxy Corporation list in the US?

As of 14 October 2026, no official listing date has been announced. Choi said the US IPO underwriters would be named "at the earliest by the end of the year, within the first quarter of next year at the latest" (Newspim), after which a roadmap would be released through them. Seoul Economic Daily reported the same remark as "the end of this year or early next year."

Was the US listing decided at a general meeting of shareholders?

No. The flip was formally adopted at a shareholder briefing held at the company's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on 25 August 2026 (Money Today exclusive, 2026-08-29). The company was reported to be planning a shareholder consent process afterwards; as of 14 October, its outcome had not been reported.

Will the shares also trade in Korea after a US listing?

The company's plan is to list in Korea through Korean Depositary Receipts (KDRs) after the US listing. On 21 September 2026 Choi said: "We will also list in Korea through Korean Depositary Receipts (KDRs)" (Newspim). He did not give a date for the KDR listing, and the company is currently unlisted.

Has Galaxy Corporation given up on listing in Korea?

No. The company's official plan is a US listing through a US holding company, but CEO Choi Yong-ho has said it will list on the Korean market through Korean Depositary Receipts (KDRs) after the US listing (21 September 2026). At the International Day for Failure event on 13 October 2026, he said: "There's a Korean IPO, there's a US IPO — we're keeping it all open" (ZDNet Korea).

Have the US IPO underwriters been chosen?

Not yet. Choi said: "We will select and announce US IPO underwriters at the end of this year or early next year" (Seoul Economic Daily, 2026-09-22). For the Korean IPO, the lead underwriters were Daishin Securities and Shinhan Securities, with Korea Investment & Securities as co-manager; what happens to those agreements has not been reported.

What obstacles does the flip face?

The press has pointed to three: tax, the consent of every shareholder, and foreign exchange filings. The share swap may be treated as a disposal and taxed; making the Korean company a wholly owned subsidiary requires the consent of all existing shareholders; and both sides of the transaction require foreign exchange filings (MTN, 2026-09-09).

What were Galaxy Corporation's revenue and operating profit in 2025?

According to the company, consolidated revenue in 2025 was KRW 298.8 billion (+619% year on year) and operating profit was KRW 12.5 billion. Reports citing the audit report put revenue at KRW 298.9 billion (+618%). In 2024, revenue was about KRW 41.5 billion with an operating loss of KRW 18.8 billion.