Empire building

By G.S. and P.K.

The expansion of Lego

FEW toy brands are as ubiquitous as Lego. The Danish brickmaker reckons that, on average, every person on earth owns 86 Lego bricks. By 2017 Lego men are expected to outnumber humans. The little bricks are big business. Despite having only one type of toy to tout, Lego has gone from being a small, loss-making firm a decade ago to the world’s second-biggest toymaker. In the 1990s growth slowed as children became increasingly glued to their computers. Lego has fought back by embracing the new media, diversifying into television, video games and, now, film. "The Lego Movie", released in America on February 7th, took $70m at the US box-office over its first weekend. Though the film’s storyline is somewhat anti-commerce (the villain is called President Business), Lego is doing rather nicely: in the past five years its profits and number of employees have doubled, albeit from a low base.

Building on other successful blockbuster franchises has also helped bring in money. In 1999 sales of the first wave of Lego Star Wars toys were six times greater than the company had forecast. Lego now sells everything from a model of the Simpsons’ house ($200) to Darth Vader’s Death Star ($400). Parents looking to get the most bricks for their buck should opt for the Simpsons range (which offers 13 bricks per dollar) rather than the Marvel Superheroes sets (which provide only five).