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.
History of Lego profits had declined since 1992, and in 1998 it posted its first ever loss, at £23 million. In the same year the company laid off 1,000 employees. In 1999, the first Lego products featuring licensed characters, i.e. not designed in-house, were Lego Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh Duplo, followed in 2000 by Lego Harry Potter characters to figures from other Steven Spielberg movies. Soren Holm, the head of Lego Concept Lab said toy weapons had always been heavily debated, but that since the Lego Star Wars release Lego has grown "more comfortable with conflict". Mr Laursen, executive North American