- Sofie Kirk Kristiansen is the great-granddaughter of Lego founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen and a friend of Princess Mary of Denmark
- Sofie has sold 4 million shares in the company Kirkbi A/S, which reportedly controls 75 percent of The Lego Group
- Kirkbi's assets have risen to about 166 billion crowns, mainly thanks to rising profits at Lego
One of the billionaire heirs to the Lego fortune has sold shares in the family-owned company for about $930 million.
Sofie Kirk Kristiansen, 47, is the great-granddaughter of founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who founded the Danish toymaker in 1932, and a close friend of Princess Mary of Denmark.
Sofie sold 4 million shares in company Kirkbi A/S, which controls 75 percent of The Lego Group, for 6.32 billion kroner – about 158,000 kroner each – according to a submit with the Danish company register reported by Bloomberg.
Proceeds from the stock sale were paid out as a form of dividend and the shares were subsequently retired by Kirkbi, causing other family members to increase their stakes in the family business, the company said in a statement.
“Earlier this year, Sofie Kirk Kristiansen agreed with the other shareholders to sell a small portion of her shares to Kirkbi in order to devote a larger portion of her time and resources to a number of conservation projects,” Kirkbi said.
Sofie Kirk Kristiansen, 47, is the great-granddaughter of founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who founded the Danish toymaker in 1932
According to Forbes, Sofie has a net worth of $6.8 billion. And according to that of the company Table of contents of the richest people in Europe in 2022, the Lego dynasty remains the richest family in Denmark – accounting for $32.8 billion of the country's total wealth of $57 billion.
The family business is currently chaired by Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, Sofie's brother, who took over when their father Kjeld resigned in May.
According to a Kirkbi press release At the time, Sofie had 12.7 percent voting rights in the company, while her sister Agnete had 12.8 percent and Thomas 37.7 percent.
The three heirs, fourth-generation siblings, each had a 25 percent ownership stake in Kirkbi, with the rest owned by their father (22.5 percent) and the family's nonprofit foundation.
It is not clear how Sofie's sale of her shares could increase her siblings' share ownership or voting rights in the family holding company.
Sofie Kirk Kristiansen has sold 4 million shares in the company Kirkbi A/S, which controls 75 percent of The Lego Group
Sofie Kirk Kristiansen is a friend of Princess Mary of Denmark
Even though Lego has been around for more than 90 years, the toy company still manages to beat its rivals in sales and revenue.
The company started making plastic bricks in the 1950s, after starting with wooden toys.
Lego experienced tremendous growth during the Covid-19 pandemic, with sales increasing 43 percent in the first half of 2021.
In 2022, the company's revenues were $9.1 billion, compared to $5.4 billion at Barbie maker Mattel.
Ole Kirk Kristiansen founded the Danish toymaker in 1932
Lego has seen a steady increase in sales since 2018, according to official company figures
Demand has since cooled – and the toy maker saw its biggest drop in profits in almost two decades – 19 percent – in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period the year before.
However, the company's CEO Niels Christiansen said this The Financial Times this was planned.
Profitability rose to unsustainable levels during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, and Lego decided to invest in sustainability and a digital push.
'We have outperformed the market at the same pace as the last four or five years. This year the market was negative,” Christiansen told the newspaper in August.