Denmark could also be a comparatively small nation, with a landmass roughly the dimension of Maryland and a inhabitants of about six million individuals, roughly equal to the state of Wisconsin. However for such a small nation, Denmark punches far above its weight. It is residence to world leaders in delivery, prescribed drugs, design, renewable power, and shopper items.
You would possibly assume the richest individual in Denmark is the proprietor of Maersk, the world’s largest delivery firm, headquartered in Copenhagen. Or maybe one of many high shareholders of Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical powerhouse behind the blockbuster weight-loss medicine Ozempic and Wegovy. You may even guess the household behind Carlsberg, one of many largest beer manufacturers on Earth.
However regardless of being residence to a exceptional variety of industrial, pharmaceutical, and technological giants, Denmark’s richest fortunes come from one thing far easier — and much more nostalgic. When you have youngsters, you most likely have a field of those toys in a closet. (I do.)
With a web price of about $10 billion, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is the richest individual in Denmark, because of… Legos. And this is the wild half: he is not alone.
Of the five hundred richest individuals on the earth, solely 4 individuals from Denmark are wealthy sufficient to make the lower. All 4 of these Danes are price roughly $10 billion. And all 4 owe their fortune to the identical little plastic brick. And that story — one in all craftsmanship, creativity, and three generations of household ingenuity — begins practically a century in the past in a small Danish workshop…
Legoland Denmark (Picture by Didier Messens/Getty Pictures)
How A Easy Toy Launched A Large Household Fortune
The Lego story begins in 1932, when a carpenter named Ole Kirk Kristiansen started making picket toys within the small Danish city of Billund. He named his firm “Lego,” a contraction of the Danish phrase leg godt, that means “play effectively.” His motto, which nonetheless defines the model at this time, was “Solely the very best is nice sufficient.” It was a modest operation at first — handmade yo-yos, geese, and vehicles crafted from leftover lumber throughout the Nice Despair.
Within the Nineteen Forties, as plastics started to emerge as a brand new manufacturing materials, Ole and his son Godtfred took a danger that will change their lives. They invested in one in all Denmark’s first plastic injection-molding machines and commenced producing easy, interlocking plastic bricks. The earliest variations weren’t good — they did not stick collectively firmly, and many purchasers nonetheless most well-liked wooden. However in 1958, Godtfred patented a brand new stud-and-tube coupling system that allowed the bricks to attach securely whereas nonetheless being simple to tug aside. That single design change turned Lego into essentially the most versatile toy ever made.
From there, Lego expanded throughout Europe within the Nineteen Sixties and into North America within the Seventies, ultimately producing billions of bricks yearly. By the point Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, Ole’s grandson, joined the corporate’s administration board in 1974, Lego had turn into one of the recognizable manufacturers on Earth. Kjeld modernized the enterprise, launching the primary Lego mini-figures in 1978, creating themed worlds like “House” and “Fort,” and increasing into films, video video games, and licensed units like “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter.”
Below Kjeld’s management, Lego developed right into a cultural phenomenon. Its theme parks, academic units, and digital merchandise helped bridge generations of followers. Whilst the corporate confronted powerful years within the early 2000s, the household refused to promote or take the corporate public, focusing as an alternative on a disciplined turnaround that restored Lego to profitability. Practically a century after its founding, the once-tiny carpentry store in Billund has turn into the world’s largest toy firm. It now produces greater than 60 billion bricks a 12 months and has turn into as recognizable globally as Apple or Disney.
Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (through Getty)
A Household Fortune
At the moment, the Kristiansens do not simply personal Lego — they’re Lego. The Kristiansen dynasty stays firmly answerable for Lego by their non-public holding firm, Kirkbi A/S, which owns 75% of the Lego Group. The remaining 25% is owned by the household’s philanthropic arm, The Lego Basis. Collectively, these entities have made the Kristiansens not simply Denmark’s wealthiest household, however one of many richest enterprise dynasties in Europe.
On the high of the household tree is Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, age 77, with an estimated web price of $10.2 billion. The grandson of Lego’s founder, Kjeld ran the corporate from 1979 to 2004, reworking it from a standard toy maker into a world leisure model. He stays the household’s patriarch and served as chairman of Kirkbi till 2023, when he handed management to his son Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, 46.
Thomas, who’s now chairman of Lego Group and chairman of the Lego Basis, represents the fourth technology of household management. His siblings Agnete Kirk Thinggaard, 42, and Sofie Kirk Kristiansen, 48, every maintain important stakes in Kirkbi as effectively. Agnete is a aggressive equestrian who lives on a sprawling 1,400-acre deer park property in Jutland, whereas Sofie, an environmentalist, has established a nature reserve in southern Denmark. Every sibling has a fortune near $10 billion.
The Lego Basis
The household’s dedication to studying and creativity extends past the toy enterprise. The Lego Basis, which owns 25% of the corporate, reinvests a portion of Lego’s earnings into charitable packages that promote schooling and youngster improvement. With greater than $1 billion in grants distributed, it’s one in all Denmark’s largest philanthropic organizations.
The muse focuses on utilizing play as a instrument for studying — a philosophy rooted in Ole Kirk Kristiansen’s authentic perception that “kids are our position fashions.” Its initiatives embody funding teacher-training packages, supporting early childhood schooling, and partnering with humanitarian organizations to convey play-based studying to refugee kids in disaster zones. Throughout the Syrian refugee disaster, as an example, the inspiration partnered with UNICEF and the Worldwide Rescue Committee to assist displaced households entry schooling by play kits and digital studying instruments. It has additionally funded main international analysis on how play improves cognitive and social improvement.
Via the inspiration, the Kristiansen household has quietly turn into one of the influential forces in international schooling philanthropy — proof that the identical bricks used to construct toy castles also can assist construct alternative for hundreds of thousands of youngsters worldwide.
Kirkbi A/S: The Funding Powerhouse Behind Lego
Past toys and philanthropy, Kirkbi A/S serves because the monetary engine of the Kristiansen household’s wealth. Headquartered in Billund, the agency manages billions in diversified belongings throughout leisure, power, actual property, and infrastructure. Its holdings reveal simply how far the household’s affect extends past Lego itself.
Kirkbi owns half of Merlin Entertainments, the British amusement park operator that controls Legoland, Madame Tussauds, and The London Eye. It additionally maintains sizable stakes in publicly traded Danish firms like ISS, one of many world’s largest services administration companies, and Nilfisk, a significant producer of business cleansing tools.
The corporate’s actual property portfolio contains landmark industrial properties all through Denmark and Northern Europe, in addition to main renewable power investments. Kirkbi has dedicated a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} towards offshore wind farms, photo voltaic initiatives, and sustainable city improvement. These efforts align with the household’s long-term sustainability mission and Denmark’s nationwide objective of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
Brick By Brick
Few household companies have ever scaled as gracefully as Lego. What started in a one-room carpentry workshop throughout the Nice Despair is now a world firm with billions in annual income, a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of followers, and a philanthropic attain that spans the globe. Practically a century later, the Kristiansen household has managed to protect each its wealth and its founding values — craftsmanship, creativity, and the idea that play has energy.
Not like many industrial fortunes, theirs was not constructed by hypothesis or exploitation, however by creativeness — a product designed to encourage reasonably than eat. The household’s multigenerational stewardship of Lego and its reinvestment by Kirkbi and the Lego Basis present that even in a world dominated by tech billionaires and monetary empires, old school rules of high quality and persistence nonetheless matter. Their wealth, like their legacy, was constructed brick by brick with countless potentialities and creativeness.
