Posted January 14, 200916 yr Lego (actually Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen) in Forbes: Our last census of the world's wealthy last March found more than 1,000 billionaires throughout the world. While they're hardly household names themselves, their companies make products that are pretty hard to miss.Take Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen. If you liked building things as a child, there's a good chance you'll recognize his family's business. Kristiansen's grandfather founded the Danish company Lego in 1932. At first, his grandfather crafted wood toys in a carpentry shop but in 1949 the company invented what would become its most famous product. At the time, the stackable plastic pieces with studs on top were called the Automatic Binding Brick. (See: "Forbes Faces: Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.") Today, we simply call them Legos and the company is the world's sixth-largest toymaker by sales. The company's success led us to peg Kristiansen's net worth at $6.5 billion in March. The full article: http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/12/billionai...rtner=yahoobuzz And a bit more info from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/people/2001/03/02/0302faceslego.html Steve
January 14, 200916 yr Thanks for that article. I remember when I was a kid, and billionaires were much less common, I read somewhere that at that time, the owner of LEGO was the only billionaire in Denmark.
January 14, 200916 yr "Today, we simply call them Legos" No 'we' don't. Only Americans use that term, everyone else finds it annoying well deserved fortunes though, unlike banks or oil tycoons.
January 14, 200916 yr "Today, we simply call them Legos"No 'we' don't. Only Americans use that term, everyone else finds it annoying well deserved fortunes though, unlike banks or oil tycoons. Well in Denmark everyone call the toy Lego, like: "I play with Lego" "I bought you some Lego" "That piece of plastic is Lego" Front Edited January 14, 200916 yr by Front
January 14, 200916 yr Well in Denmark everyone call the toy Lego, like:"I play with Lego" "I bought you some Lego" "That piece of plastic is Lego" Front The difference is the singular pronoun I guess (ie no 's' at the end). It's the same here. Noone in Australia calls them 'Lego bricks' despite the best efforts of TLG
January 15, 200916 yr "Today, we simply call them Legos"No 'we' don't. Only Americans use that term, everyone else finds it annoying well deserved fortunes though, unlike banks or oil tycoons. Look at all the Legos i got today! I sure do enjoy my legos! While cleaning out my closet, i found a whole box of legos! Seriously, worst things will happen than mispronouncing a childrens toy. And FYI, everyone does it at some point. Not just Americans.
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