The Lego Group
Lego A/S, also known as the Lego Group, is a Danish construction toy production company based in Billund. It manufactures Lego-branded toys, consisting mostly of interlocking ABS plastic and rubber bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks around the world, each known as Legoland, and operates numerous retail stores.
The name Lego is derived from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well".
The company was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen. In the first half of 2015, the Lego Group became the world's largest toy company by revenue, with sales amounting to, surpassing Mattel, which had in sales. As of 2025, the company is owned by the Kristiansen family via their family office, investment firm Kirkbi.
History
The Lego company was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter whose primary business of producing household goods had suffered due to the Great Depression. Initially producing wooden toys, the company later developed a system of interlocking bricks. Manufacturing of plastic Lego bricks began in Denmark in 1947. After a fire in the woodworking department, Ole's son, Godtfred, decided to stop the production of wooden toys and solely focus on plastic products and the Lego system. In 1961, Christiansen built the beginning of Billund Airport to facilitate the sale of Lego toys around the world.In North America, Samsonite managed the Lego brand from 1961 until 1972 and 1986.
The name Lego is a contraction of the Danish words "Leg godt". However, the name also means in Latin either "I collect", "I compose", "I choose", or "I read". These additional meanings, the first three of which are very relevant, only made sense when the company started making plastic blocks with studs that could be put together.
In 1995, the company's ruling Kristiansen/Christiansen family began running the Lego Group through the Kirkbi investment firm.
The basic Lego brick has remained unchanged since its patent, and this enduring design has been associated with the toy's widespread popularity. These bricks have become a recognizable part of childhood in many parts of the world. The Lego Group, which has remained family-owned by the Christiansen family, was among the first inductees to the U.S. National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998. Additionally, it was recognized as "Toy of the Century" by several organizations in 2000. Lego bricks have been utilized in various creative projects, including large-scale replicas of famous monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and Mount Rushmore, as well as modern art installations.
In the 21st century, the Lego brand expanded into various electronic games, including a series of Minifigure-based action-adventure games inspired by popular cultural franchises such as Star Wars, Batman, Marvel Comics, and the Harry Potter series. The brand also released The Lego Movie, a computer-animated feature film centered on the adventures of Lego minifigures. A spin-off, The Lego Batman Movie, focused on Batman, introduced in the original film.
In January 2026, the Lego Group announced the Smart Play system at CES, introducing Smart Bricks, Smart Tags, and Smart Minifigures with embedded electronics designed to enable interactive play without screens. The system uses near-field magnetic positioning and a Bluetooth-based protocol called BrickNet to allow components to recognize and interact with each other.
Trademark and patents
Since the expiry of the last standing Lego patent in 1989, several companies have produced interlocking bricks that are similar to Lego bricks. The toy company Tyco Toys produced such bricks for a time; other competitors include Mega Bloks and Best-Lock. These competitor products are typically "compatible" with Lego bricks, and are often marketed at a lower cost than Lego sets.One such competitor is Coko, manufactured by Chinese company Tianjin Coko Toy Co., Ltd. In 2002, Lego Group's Swiss subsidiary Interlego AG sued the company for copyright infringement. A trial court found many Coko bricks to be infringing; Coko was ordered to cease manufacture of the infringing bricks, publish a formal apology in the Beijing Daily, and pay a small fee in damages to Interlego. On appeal, the Beijing High People's Court upheld the trial court's ruling.
In 2003, the Lego Group won a lawsuit in Norway against the marketing group Biltema for its sale of Coko products, because the company used product confusion for marketing purposes.
Also in 2003, a large shipment of Lego-like products marketed under the name "Enlighten" was seized by Finnish customs authorities. The packaging of the Enlighten products was similar to official Lego packaging. Their Chinese manufacturer failed to appear in court, and thus The Lego Group won a default action ordering the destruction of the shipment. The Lego Group footed the bill for the disposal of the 54,000 sets, citing a desire to avoid brand confusion and protect consumers from potentially inferior products.
In 2004, Best-Lock defeated a patent challenge from The Lego Group in the Oberlandesgericht, Hamburg.
The Lego Group attempted to trademark the "Lego Indicia", the studded appearance of the Lego brick, hoping to stop production of Mega Brands. On 24 May 2002, the Federal Court of Canada dismissed the case, asserting the design was functional and therefore ineligible for trademark protection. The Lego Group's appeal was dismissed by the Federal Court of Appeal on 14 July 2003. In October 2005, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that "Trademark law should not be used to perpetuate monopoly rights enjoyed under now-expired patents" and held that Mega Bloks could continue to manufacture their bricks.
Because of fierce competition from copycat products, the company has always responded by being proactive in its patenting and has over 600 United States–granted design patents to its name.
Financial results
In 2003, the Lego Group faced a budget deficit of , causing Poul Plougmann to be replaced by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen as president. In the following year, almost one thousand employees were laid off, due to budget cuts. However, in October 2004, on reporting an even larger deficit, Kristiansen also stepped down as president, while placing of his private funds into the company.In 2005, the Lego Group reported a 2004 net loss of on a total turnover, including Legoland amusement parks, of.
For 2005, the company returned a profit of, having increased its revenue by 12% to in 2005 against in 2004. It also cut expenditures and disposed of amusement parks and a factory in Switzerland.
In 2011, sales for the company grew 11%, rising from in 2010 to in 2011. Profit for the 2011 fiscal year increased from to. The increased profit was due to the enormous popularity of the new brand Ninjago, which became the company's biggest product introduction ever.
In 2012, it was reported that the Lego Group had become the world's most valuable toy company ahead of Mattel with a value of over.
The Lego Group delivered a turnover of in the first half of 2015 with an increase of 18% compared with the same period in 2014 measured in local currency. Net profit for the first half of 2015 was compared with for the first half of 2014. First half-year sales were driven by double-digit growth across all geographical regions and strong product innovation on themes such as Lego Ninjago, Lego Elves and Lego Creator.
The Lego Group announced on 4 September 2017 its intention to cut jobs following reduced revenue and profit in the first half of the year, the first reported decrease in 13 years. The revenue losses are due to a more competitive environment, where the company has to compete not only against its traditional competitors Hasbro and Mattel, but also against technology companies such as Sony or Microsoft as more children use mobile devices for entertainment. The job cuts account for 8 per cent of the company's total workforce. In May 2018, the company made it to Forbes Top 100 World's Most Valuable Brands 2018, being 97th on the list.
Legoland
The Lego Group has built eleven amusement parks around the world, each known as Legoland. Each park features large-scale Lego models of famous landmarks and miniature Lego models of famous cities, along with Lego-themed rides. The first Legoland park was built in the Lego Group's home town of Billund in Denmark in 1968. This was followed by Legoland Windsor Resort in Windsor, England, Legoland California in Carlsbad, United States and Legoland Deutschland Resort in Günzburg, Germany. In addition, Legoland Sierksdorf was opened in 1973 but soon closed in 1976.In July 2005, the Lego Group announced that it had reached a deal with private investment company Blackstone Inc. to sell all four parks for to the Blackstone subsidiary Merlin Entertainments. Under the terms of the deal, the Lego Group would take a share in Merlin Entertainments and positions on their board. The sale of the theme parks was part of a wider strategy to restructure the company to focus on the core business of toy products.
In 2010, Merlin Entertainments opened the first Legoland water park at the Legoland California site. On 15 October 2011, Merlin Entertainments opened their first new Legoland park, Legoland Florida, in Winter Haven, Florida. It is the largest Legoland opened to date at 145 acres, and only one of the Legoland parks opened in the United States. The other Legoland water park was opened near the same location on 26 May 2012 after only four months of construction.
Merlin Entertainments opened their second new Legoland park in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia under the name Legoland Malaysia Resort on 22 September 2012. It is the first Legoland in Asia and was quickly followed by another Lego-themed water park in the same area. The first Lego hotel has also opened near the site. People who stay in the hotel will also get tickets to the theme park and water park. The September 2016 they opened Legoland Dubai. In addition, they opened four new Legoland Discovery Centres, which take the Legoland concept and scale it down to suit a retail park environment.
Legoland Japan Resort was opened in 2017 in Nagoya, Japan.
Legoland Water Park Gardaland in Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy and Legoland New York in Goshen, New York, the largest of ten Legoland parks as of 2024, was opened in 2021.
In June 2019, the Lego Group purchased the remaining shares in Merlin Entertainments which they did not own and privatised the company. This returned the operation of the Legoland parks to the control of the Lego Group.