LEGO Group

What does LEGO Group own?

The group owns the LEGO building system, hundreds of toy themes, LEGO Education, and its global retail and manufacturing network. Through Kirkbi, the family also holds major stakes in Merlin Entertainments, which runs Legoland parks, and Epic Games.

Is LEGO publicly traded?

No. LEGO Group is privately held, with the Kristiansen family owning 75 percent through Kirkbi and the LEGO Foundation holding the remaining 25 percent. There is no stock listing and no plan for one.

Who founded LEGO?

Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, founded the company in 1932. His son Godtfred developed the modern stud-and-tube brick system patented in 1958.

Where is LEGO headquartered?

The company is headquartered in Billund, Denmark, the same town where it was founded, and operates a major global campus there alongside regional offices worldwide.

Who owns LEGO?

The Kirk Kristiansen family owns the company through Kirkbi, their investment vehicle, and the LEGO Foundation, a charitable arm. Kirk Kjeldsen Christiansen, a fourth-generation family member, is chairman.

How much revenue does LEGO make?

In fiscal 2025 the group reported record revenue of DKK 83.5 billion, approximately $12.9 billion, with operating profit of DKK 22.0 billion and net profit of DKK 16.7 billion.

How many employees does LEGO have?

The group employed 33,801 people at the end of 2025 across offices, factories, and retail operations in more than 30 countries.

Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter in Billund, Denmark, founded the company in 1932 making wooden household goods and toys. The LEGO name, from the Danish "leg godt" meaning "play well," was adopted in 1934. In 1949 the company produced the first Automatic Binding Bricks, the ancestors of today's brick.

The modern system arrived in 1958 when Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Ole's son, patented the stud-and-tube coupling design that remains fully compatible with bricks made today. The company discontinued wooden toys after a 1960 factory fire and focused entirely on the plastic brick, expanding through Europe, the United States, and Japan.

The company nearly collapsed in the early 2000s after overexpansion into clothing, media parks, and an explosion of specialized parts. A 2004 restructuring under new CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, the first outsider to run the company, refocused on the core brick system, cut thousands of unique elements, and drove a decade of double-digit growth. Licensed themes like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and later the 2014 LEGO Movie turned the brand into a media property.

Niels B. Christiansen became CEO in October 2017. His tenure has been defined by digital expansion, sustainability investment, and supply chain globalization. The company opened a new factory in Vietnam in 2025, is building a $1.5 billion plant in Chesterfield, Virginia, scheduled for 2027, and surpassed one million hours of carbon-free energy use in manufacturing.

Fiscal 2025 set records across the board. Revenue of DKK 83.5 billion was up 12 percent, net profit hit DKK 16.7 billion, and the workforce reached 33,801 employees. The company paid a record employee bonus and continued its commitment to make all packaging and core materials sustainable by 2032.

The company has made sustainability a strategic pillar with measurable commitments:

Materials: LEGO has pledged to make all bricks from sustainable materials by 2032, moving away from ABS plastic toward recycled and bio-based alternatives. More than 600 elements now incorporate sustainable materials, and paper-based packaging is replacing plastic bags inside sets.

Carbon: The company passed one million hours of carbon-free manufacturing energy use and aims to reduce absolute emissions 37 percent by 2032 against a 2019 baseline, verified under the Science Based Targets initiative.

Governance: The LEGO Foundation's 25 percent ownership directs roughly $300 million annually to learning-through-play programs. The company maintains high labor standards in its own plants and supplier code, audited under international frameworks.

LEGO consistently ranks among the world's most valuable and reputable brands, placing at or near the top of Brand Finance's annual toy rankings and the RepTrak reputation surveys. It was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of the century for the brick itself, and its workforce practices have earned repeated Great Place to Work recognition across markets. The 2025 financial results, the strongest in its 94-year history, were widely covered as a private-company benchmark.

Plastic footprint: Despite sustainability commitments, the company produces billions of plastic elements annually, and critics note that recycled-ABS alternatives remain a small share of total output. The company acknowledges the gap and has invested heavily in material science.

Pricing complaints: Consumer criticism of rising set prices and perceived shrinkflation is persistent, particularly among adult collectors. The company attributes pricing to material costs and licensing fees but has not addressed affordability directly.

Safety record: LEGO has an exceptionally clean product-safety history, with no major recalls in decades, a significant differentiator in a category where competitors face regular recalls.