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Lego cuts jobs as profit declines amid leadership change
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This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Batman, voiced by Will Arnett and Superman, voiced by Channing Tatum, in a scene from (Warner Bros. Pictures/File)
L
ego reported a decline in sales and profit and said it would cut 8 percent of its workforce as Europe’s biggest toymaker is going through a leadership transition phase after a decade of rapid expansion.
Net income in the first half of the year declined by 3 percent to 3.4 billion kroner (US$540 million), the closely held company, which is based in the western Denmark city of Billund, said in a statement Tuesday. Sales declined by 5 percent to 14.9 billion kroner.
“We are disappointed by the decline in revenue in our established markets, and we have taken steps to address this,” Chairman Jorgen Vig Knudstorp said in the statement. “We are working closely with our partners and we are confident that we have the long-term potential of reaching more children in our well-established markets in Europe and the U.S. We also see strong growth opportunities in growing markets such as China.”
Lego’s slowdown began last year as more of its markets mature, with US sales stagnating despite higher spending on marketing. The deceleration coincided with Knudstorp -- the man credited for turning Lego around to become the world’s most profitable toymaker -- deciding to step down as CEO to become chairman.
Lego promoted Chief Operations Officer Bali Padda to CEO as of Jan. 1, but announced already last month that he’ll be replaced Oct. 1 with Niels B. Christiansen, the former boss of Danish engineering giant Danfoss.
Lego said Tuesday it would cut about 1,400 positions, most before the end of this year. The company, which is controlled by the Danish billionaire Kirk Kristiansen family, currently employs about 18,200 people worldwide.
In the past five years Lego has built “an increasingly complex organization” to support its high growth rates, the company said.
“In the process, we have added complexity into the organization which now in turn makes it harder for us to grow further,” Knudstorp said. “As a result, we have now pressed the reset-button for the entire group. This means we will build a smaller and less complex organization than we have today.”
