Lego is world's largest toy manufacturer for the first time

In this past year, Danish Lego Group achieved growth once more and has now, for the first time ever, become the world’s largest toy manufacturer, surpassing Mattel.

European growth

Lego’s 2016 turnover grew 6 % to 5.1 billion euro and that trumps Mattel’s turnover, which slumped to 4.9 billion euro. Lego’s net profit also increased slightly, to 1.24 billion euro.

Despite these positive results, CFO John Goodwin says he is not focused on the numbers. “We simply want to reach as many children around the world as possible“, he says.

The company has made huge strides over the past few years. Its 2013 turnover was a mere 3.36 billion euro, but it has now managed to add about 50 % since then. The United States were the largest growth engine for a while, but now that that growth is slowing down, Europe and Asia have taken over.

“We are very happy about that, especially considering we have been active in Europe for decades and we have reached a very high market penetration over here already”, Goodwin said. Lego takes full advantage of its license deals with Disney and DC Comics. For instance, the two Star Wars movies from Disney helped generate increased sales for several models. Lego typically targets children, but now also tapped into another growth area: adults who are nostalgically returning to the toys from their youth.