5 ms·

Lego 6-month profit surges to $177 million

24 points by neovive 17y ago

neovive 17y ago
This is an interesting example of how a very old company is breathing new life into it's existing core product line and achieving growth that it hasn't experienced in a while. If you walk into a Toys R Us store these days, Lego has an entire aisle for it's products with large display cases showing off it's newest product lines (mentioned in the article). In some ways, Lego's offer similar benefits as online API's used to build mashups; where all of it's various product lines adhere to the same standards and can be used together in unlimited ways. Thus, the latest Star Wars Lego sets can be used with sets purchased in the past.
- tdavis 17y ago
  When I was younger, my main motivation for acquiring a new set was almost never to build whatever was in it (in fact, I probably only built a few of the hundreds I received); they contained pieces or modules I wanted for ongoing projects. Legos are pretty much the most efficient toy out there.
- liquidben 17y ago
  I am greatly intrigued by this and would love to see an analysis, but 5 hours since posting of the article seems too soon for anything that Google provides to me. I wonder if the Toys'R'Us sales deal expenditure was written up two quarters previous?
axod 17y ago
Lego have some truly awesome things. If you haven't tried it already, check out the Lego Digital designer (Free download from lego.com). You can use it to build models on a PC, then with one click see how much it'd cost, and order it. They auto generate instructions of how to build it! Brilliant. Also the console games are really good - Lego Batman/Lego indiana jones/Lego starwars. I think every single kid should have Lego. It teaches you so many things and is just great fun.
- tybris 17y ago
  Years of trying to breed a new generations of super-engineers by providing them with plastic building blocks throughout their early life finally paid of.
- run4yourlives 17y ago
  That is brilliantly awesome. If they had someone within the company come up with that idea, they better be holding on to him/her as hard as possible.
e40 17y ago
I was browsing some Lego sets recently. Man, are they expensive. And, on Amazon at least, it's a little difficult to even find the standard brick sets. There are just so many themed sets.
- axod 17y ago
  http://shop.lego.com http://shop.lego.com You can even purchase individual bricks (Although obviously that'll cost more than buying a set). If you have a local Lego Shop though I'd go. They have a 'wall' where you can fill a bucket with whatever pieces you want.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - jsackmann 17y ago
    They have a 'wall' where you can fill a bucket with whatever pieces you want. Whoa. I had no idea. Now I know what I want to do when I retire: Become 12 years old again and live near a lego shop.
    - axod 17y ago
      I'm slightly ashamed to say I was standing there working out how to fit the most bricks into the plastic cup. (It's larger at the top than the bottom, so it's quite a puzzle to fill with mostly square bricks) :) I'm 31, but really still 10.
- Zolt 17y ago
  Rarely do I buy complete sets anymore, I just buy the individual pieces I am looking for from http://www.bricklink.com http://www.bricklink.com (no affiliation just a happy customer). (92,700,724 items in 2,814,678 lots in 3,404 stores as of Aug-17-09 1:00:08 PM.) Looking for old catalogs? Can’t beat this site http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/ http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/; scanned in and categorized by theme, name, year etc.
tybris 17y ago
Rarely do corporate results give me such a warm and fuzzy feeling as Lego being reborn in the middle of a recession (or towards the end, actually it doesn't matter. Go Lego!).
seldo 17y ago
I just got my 18-month-old niece a big set of Duplo (made by Lego, with blocks too big to be swallowed by a 2-year-old). I'll make an engineer of her yet...
josefresco 17y ago
This was the most interesting nugget from the article: "The total global toy market declined somewhat during the first half of the year," Lego said. "The total figure, however, represents significant regional differences -- English-speaking markets reported a decline, while most European toy markets grew during the period." Any ideas from the HN community as to why this was the case? I thought the US was mostly in the same boat as Europe when it comes to recession/consumer spending. Or does this reflect a cultural difference?
sethg 17y ago
From a business point of view, one of the impressive things about this is that all the IP rights protecting Lego's core product lines expired long ago. They can't stop anyone from making plastic bricks with bumps in exactly the right places to interlock with Lego bricks.
- axod 17y ago
  It's surprising that the competition - megablocks for one - is so ridiculously inferior. My son got some megablocks once, and none of them fit together properly. You stick them together, then they pop off. Or leave cracks. I guess they are filling the "cheap and don't care if they don't work" sector :/
rfreytag 17y ago
Home 3D printers like RepRap (http://inventorspot.com/articles/engineers_build_selfreplicating_machine_14379 http://inventorspot.com/articles/engineers_build_selfreplica...) seem certain to cut into Lego market share? You need a shape - just print it.
- neovive 17y ago
  Perhaps, if you need a replacement piece. It must be quite costly to to "print" a new set Legos vs. just buying the set.
- sethg 17y ago
  My impression is that Lego bricks are engineered to very precise tolerances (see comment above re MegaBlocks); I wonder how close RepRap could come to the standard of a real brick.
BRadmin 17y ago
Any reason why'd they publicly report financials despite being a private company? "The company is not publicly listed but has published earning reports since 1997."
- byrneseyeview 17y ago
  It's a good way to convince stores to invest in a long-term relationship with Lego. If I'd had to guess, I would think they were marginally profitable, or even losing money. And if I sold toys, that would factor into the decision to order Legos.
zandorg 17y ago
I used to build these ridiculous 10-storey buildings from Lego when I was younger, and we had a huge box of all kinds of Lego bits from proper sets. I think Lego leads to making people programmers.

24 points by neovive 17y ago

This is an interesting example of how a very old company is breathing new life into it's existing core product line and achieving growth that it hasn't experienced in a while. If you walk into a Toys R Us store these days, Lego has an entire aisle for it's products with large display cases showing off it's newest product lines (mentioned in the article). In some ways, Lego's offer similar benefits as online API's used to build mashups; where all of it's various product lines adhere to the same standards and can be used together in unlimited ways. Thus, the latest Star Wars Lego sets can be used with sets purchased in the past.

tdavis 17y ago
When I was younger, my main motivation for acquiring a new set was almost never to build whatever was in it (in fact, I probably only built a few of the hundreds I received); they contained pieces or modules I wanted for ongoing projects. Legos are pretty much the most efficient toy out there.
liquidben 17y ago
I am greatly intrigued by this and would love to see an analysis, but 5 hours since posting of the article seems too soon for anything that Google provides to me. I wonder if the Toys'R'Us sales deal expenditure was written up two quarters previous?

axod 17y ago

Lego have some truly awesome things. If you haven't tried it already, check out the Lego Digital designer (Free download from lego.com). You can use it to build models on a PC, then with one click see how much it'd cost, and order it. They auto generate instructions of how to build it! Brilliant. Also the console games are really good - Lego Batman/Lego indiana jones/Lego starwars. I think every single kid should have Lego. It teaches you so many things and is just great fun.

tybris 17y ago
Years of trying to breed a new generations of super-engineers by providing them with plastic building blocks throughout their early life finally paid of.
run4yourlives 17y ago
That is brilliantly awesome. If they had someone within the company come up with that idea, they better be holding on to him/her as hard as possible.

e40 17y ago

I was browsing some Lego sets recently. Man, are they expensive. And, on Amazon at least, it's a little difficult to even find the standard brick sets. There are just so many themed sets.

axod 17y ago
http://shop.lego.com http://shop.lego.com You can even purchase individual bricks (Although obviously that'll cost more than buying a set). If you have a local Lego Shop though I'd go. They have a 'wall' where you can fill a bucket with whatever pieces you want.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- jsackmann 17y ago
  They have a 'wall' where you can fill a bucket with whatever pieces you want. Whoa. I had no idea. Now I know what I want to do when I retire: Become 12 years old again and live near a lego shop.
  - axod 17y ago
    I'm slightly ashamed to say I was standing there working out how to fit the most bricks into the plastic cup. (It's larger at the top than the bottom, so it's quite a puzzle to fill with mostly square bricks) :) I'm 31, but really still 10.
Zolt 17y ago
Rarely do I buy complete sets anymore, I just buy the individual pieces I am looking for from http://www.bricklink.com http://www.bricklink.com (no affiliation just a happy customer). (92,700,724 items in 2,814,678 lots in 3,404 stores as of Aug-17-09 1:00:08 PM.) Looking for old catalogs? Can’t beat this site http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/ http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/; scanned in and categorized by theme, name, year etc.

tybris 17y ago

Rarely do corporate results give me such a warm and fuzzy feeling as Lego being reborn in the middle of a recession (or towards the end, actually it doesn't matter. Go Lego!).

seldo 17y ago

I just got my 18-month-old niece a big set of Duplo (made by Lego, with blocks too big to be swallowed by a 2-year-old). I'll make an engineer of her yet...

josefresco 17y ago

This was the most interesting nugget from the article: "The total global toy market declined somewhat during the first half of the year," Lego said. "The total figure, however, represents significant regional differences -- English-speaking markets reported a decline, while most European toy markets grew during the period." Any ideas from the HN community as to why this was the case? I thought the US was mostly in the same boat as Europe when it comes to recession/consumer spending. Or does this reflect a cultural difference?

sethg 17y ago

From a business point of view, one of the impressive things about this is that all the IP rights protecting Lego's core product lines expired long ago. They can't stop anyone from making plastic bricks with bumps in exactly the right places to interlock with Lego bricks.

axod 17y ago
It's surprising that the competition - megablocks for one - is so ridiculously inferior. My son got some megablocks once, and none of them fit together properly. You stick them together, then they pop off. Or leave cracks. I guess they are filling the "cheap and don't care if they don't work" sector :/

rfreytag 17y ago

Home 3D printers like RepRap (http://inventorspot.com/articles/engineers_build_selfreplicating_machine_14379 http://inventorspot.com/articles/engineers_build_selfreplica...) seem certain to cut into Lego market share? You need a shape - just print it.

neovive 17y ago
Perhaps, if you need a replacement piece. It must be quite costly to to "print" a new set Legos vs. just buying the set.
sethg 17y ago
My impression is that Lego bricks are engineered to very precise tolerances (see comment above re MegaBlocks); I wonder how close RepRap could come to the standard of a real brick.

BRadmin 17y ago

Any reason why'd they publicly report financials despite being a private company? "The company is not publicly listed but has published earning reports since 1997."

byrneseyeview 17y ago
It's a good way to convince stores to invest in a long-term relationship with Lego. If I'd had to guess, I would think they were marginally profitable, or even losing money. And if I sold toys, that would factor into the decision to order Legos.

zandorg 17y ago

I used to build these ridiculous 10-storey buildings from Lego when I was younger, and we had a huge box of all kinds of Lego bits from proper sets. I think Lego leads to making people programmers.