The Lego Group world's largest toy company by revenue, with sales amounting to US$2.1 billion, surpassing Mattel, which had US$1.9 billion in sales. On 11 August 2017, Lego announced that Niels B. Christiansen would become the new CEO, effective 1 October of the same year. The history of Lego spans nearly 100 years, beginning with the creation of small wooden playthings during the early 20th century. Manufacturing of plastic Lego bricks began in Denmark in 1947, but since has grown to include factories throughout the world. In 1961, Lego was managed by Samsonite until 1972 in the United States and 1986 in Canada.
EXÍN Castles yet still interoperable with generic Lego, gave increased competition to EXIN. EXÍN Castles EXÍN Castillos (or EXIN Castles) is a construction toy. First introduced by the Exin Lines Brothers in 1968 in Barcelona, Spain, this plastic block toy was designed for the construction of castle-like-buildings. The company has most recently produced Castle lines toys for the Shrek movie franchise and others. The EXIN Castillos blocks are of a peg-and-socket design similar to Lego, though with larger pegs, and the most common size being a 1x2 design (whereas 2x4 is the most common Lego size). The blocks are usually a mottled