Lego lets go of staff after sales fall for the first time in a decade
The toy maker, which recently removed its CEO, says it cannot promise it will return to growth in the next two years
Copenhagen — Lego said it would lay off 8% of its staff and revamp its business after reporting its first fall in sales in more than a decade on Tuesday. The Danish toy maker announced a 5% decline in mid-year revenue a month after abruptly removing its CEO, suggesting that it is facing its biggest test since flirting with bankruptcy in the early 2000s. Lego said it could not promise a return to growth in the next two years, a jolting acknowledgement for a group widely admired for embracing the digital era and tying up lucrative franchises from Harry Potter to Minecraft. "We have now pressed the reset-button for the entire group," executive chairperson Jorgen Vig Knudstorp said, acknowledging that the business had grown too complicated. He would seek a return to a leaner and more efficient organisation to respond to "losing momentum … which we think could ultimately lead to stagnation or even decline". Lego said revenues had disappointed in its core markets of the US and Europe, aft...
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