Lego Crisis

On the surface, the Lego Group didn't look as if it was in trouble.  The fourth-largest toymaker in the world at the time (today it is fifth-largest), the Lego Group sold &1.5 billion worth of toys in 2004.  however, the Lego Group's financial performance told another story.  Despite its extraordinary hold on the imagination of children around the world, the Billund Denmark, company was in trouble.  The Lego Group had lost money four out of the seven years from 1998 through 2004.  Sales dropped 30 percent in 2003 and 10 percent more in 2004, when profit margins stood at- 30 percent.  Lego Group executives estimated that the company was destroying $337,000 in value every day.