The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks around the world, each known as Legoland, and operates numerous retail stores.

[8][9] The Lego company was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter whose primary business of producing household goods had suffered due to the Great Depression.

The basic LEGO brick has remained unchanged since its patent, and this enduring design has been associated with the toy’s widespread popularity.

The LEGO Group, which has remained family-owned by the Christiansen family, was among the first inductees to the U.S. National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998.

[10] LEGO bricks have been utilized in various creative projects, including large-scale replicas of famous monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and Mount Rushmore, as well as modern art installations.

[14] Also in 2003, a large shipment of Lego-like products marketed under the name "Enlighten" was seized by Finnish customs authorities.

Their Chinese manufacturer failed to appear in court, and thus Lego won a default action ordering the destruction of the shipment.

Lego Group footed the bill for the disposal of the 54,000 sets, citing a desire to avoid brand confusion and protect consumers from potentially inferior products.

On 24 May 2002, the Federal Court of Canada dismissed the case, asserting the design was functional and therefore ineligible for trademark protection.

[17] In October 2005, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that "Trademark law should not be used to perpetuate monopoly rights enjoyed under now-expired patents" and held that Mega Bloks can continue to manufacture their bricks.

The increased profit was due to the enormous popularity of the new brand Ninjago, which became the company's biggest product introduction ever.

[22] In 2012, it was reported that the Lego Group had become the world's most valuable toy company ahead of Mattel with a value of over US$14.6 billion.

14,142 million in the first half of 2015 with an increase of 18% compared with the same period in 2014 measured in local currency (i.e. excluding the impact of foreign exchange rate changes).

[28] The sale of the theme parks was part of a wider strategy to restructure the company to focus on the core business of toy products.

One of the distinctive features of these new stores is the inclusion of a "Pick-A-Brick" system that allows customers to buy individual bricks in bulk quantities.

[37] The first Lego store is expected to open doors in Sofia, Bulgaria on 19 December 2023 in the largest shopping centre in the city's Paradise Center.

[38] In 1992, when the Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minnesota, one of its premier attractions was the Lego Imagination Center (LIC).

[46] Lego Media also operated a motion picture division, which produced the BBC children's series Little Robots for Cosgrove Hall Films.

[54] At the time of its announced closing in 2001, 30% of the world's production of Lego was produced at the Swiss facility in Baar.

[57][58] Lego acknowledges the impact of its operations on the environment, in particular in areas such as climate change, resource and energy use and waste.

The first Borkum Riffgrund 1 wind turbines off the coast of Germany began producing electricity in February 2015, which would help the Lego Group reach its goal of being based 100% on renewable energy by 2020.

[59] The company claims to recycle 90% of its waste and that it has made its operations nearly one-third more energy efficient over the five years ending on 31 December 2013.

[63] In 2023, online magazine Wired reported that Lego has faced challenges in transitioning from traditional acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene plastic to more sustainable materials due to the difficulties in achieving the necessary durability and production efficiency.

Despite previous commitments to reduce plastic waste, the company's recent efforts to create bricks from recycled plastic bottles did not result in the anticipated sustainable alternatives, as the production process resulted in a higher carbon footprint than anticipated.

[64] In 2024, investigative journalism by Danish news broadcaster DR revealed that the Kirk Kristiansen family, owners of Lego, operate three private jets that have flown over 1,000 times between 2020 and 2023, often to destinations linked to vacations and events related to the family's hobby of horse riding.

[65] In January 2014, a handwritten letter to Lego from a seven-year-old American girl, Charlotte Benjamin, received widespread attention in the media.

[67][68] The science-themed project was selected as the latest Lego Ideas winner and was submitted by Ellen Kooijman, a geochemist in Stockholm.

The BBC's Tom de Castella reported that Kooijman was pleased with the set's final design, despite the addition of face makeup to her original proposal, and that Becky Francis, professor of education and social justice at King's College London, who had been "very, very disappointed" by Lego Friends, is a fan.

[72] On 3 March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the LEGO Foundation stated it would donate approximately US$16.5 million to organizations including UNICEF, Save the Children, and the Danish Red Cross for emergency relief efforts.

[73] In April 2022, The LEGO Foundation announced the launch of the company's $20 million play-based learning initiative.