Thanks to The Lego Movie, Lego Is World’s Largest Toy Maker

LEGO_LogoAs reported by The Wall Street Journal today, Lego is currently the world’s largest toy maker.

Denmark’s Lego A/S said that revenue during the first six months rose 11 percent, boosted by The Lego Movie products. This makes Lego the biggest toy company in the world in terms of both revenue and profit, ahead of Mattel Inc. The jump also puts Lego slightly ahead of Mattel in sales for the first six months of the year.

A sequel to The Lego Movie, The Lego Movie 2, is scheduled for release in 2017, and Warner Bros. has already set the release for the Ninjago movie next year.

The licensing of the movies themselves isn’t a significant element of sales for Lego compared with the sales of movie-related boxes of bricks. Overall first-half sales for Lego rose to 11.5 billion Danish kroner ($2.03 billion) from 10.4 billion kroner in the same period last year, the company said.

The Danish privately held company, which has said it has sold on average 86 Lego bricks for every person on earth, said China saw the most significant growth in Asia, with sales up more than 50 percent in the first six months.

Lego’s first-half results narrowly places it in first place ahead of toy maker Mattel Inc., which in February bought Mega Brands Inc. for $366 million—a move into construction toys that puts the California-based company in direct competition with Lego.

Mattel posted results in July that badly missed estimates, mainly because of weak Barbie doll sales.

Lego’s net profit increased by 14 percent during the first six months to 2.72 billion kroner, while operating profit during the first six months grew to 3.63 billion kroner compared with 3.24 billion kroner last year.

About the author

Phil Guie

Phil Guie

Phil Guie is an associate editor at Adventure Publishing Group. He writes and edits articles for The Toy Book and The Licensing Book. Phil also serves as lead editor for The Toy Book Blog and The Toy Report newsletter, and manages social media for The Toy Book. But of course, Phil’s pride and joy are his weekly reviews for The Toy Insider, in which he writes about video games, movies, and other cool things. His hobbies include comics, baking, fidgeting, and traveling to off-the-beaten places and making new friends.

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