中文Startup Strategy🔄 Turnaround / Crisis Recovery10 min read2026-03-01

5 LEGO Cuts That Took It From $1M/Day Losses to a $10B Year

In 2003, LEGO was bleeding cash, drowning in complexity, and trying to be everything at once. Its turnaround wasn’t powered by bigger bets—it was powered by subtraction. Here’s the decision blueprint that made CES 2026’s screen-free SMART Play possible.

LEGOturnaroundfocusproduct-strategycost-cuttingpartnershipsinnovation

Decision Muscles

TL;DR

✓ By 2003, LEGO had piled up $800M in debt and was losing ~$1M per day—a near-death spiral caused as much by internal complexity as market shifts (Source).
⚡ The turnaround play wasn’t “innovate harder.” It was “do less, do it better”—cut the things that made LEGO unmanageable, then rebuild growth on the core.
✓ In 2004, 35-year-old Jørgen Vig Knudstorp took over as CEO and immediately treated LEGO as a system problem, not a marketing problem (Source).
✓ LEGO cut complexity (parts/products), sold non-core assets, and used partnerships (instead of building everything in-house) to regain margins and scale (Source).
✓ The payoff shows up decades later: at CES 2026, LEGO unveiled SMART Play—screen-free, sensor-packed bricks that still stay compatible with the classic system (Source).

Hook + background

In most turnaround stories, the hero is “innovation.” New products. New markets. New narratives.

LEGO’s rescue story is uglier—and more useful.

In the early 2000s, LEGO didn’t just have a revenue problem. It had a complexity addiction. It tried to be a theme park operator, a clothing brand, a watch company, a media studio, a game developer—anything except what it was built to be: a scalable system of play built on a small set of repeatable bricks.

The result was predictable: more SKUs, more tooling, more supply chain chaos, more overhead—less cash.

✓ By 2003, LEGO had $800M in debt and was losing ~$1M a day (Source).
✓ By 2003, sales were down ~30% YoY (Source).
✓ Operating margin collapsed from ~18–19% in the late 1990s to 2.4% by 2003 (Source).

Here’s the contrarian part: LEGO didn’t “turn around” by becoming more experimental.

It turned around by getting ruthless about what not to do.

And that’s why its biggest “new” product moment—CES 2026’s SMART Play—reads like the final scene of a long strategy movie. SMART Play isn’t a pivot away from bricks; it’s an upgrade that only works because LEGO rebuilt the brick system first.

Core decision breakdown (✓ facts / ⚡ inferences / 💬 commentary)

Decision 1: Admit the problem might be LEGO itself

✓ When Knudstorp became CEO in 2004, he was a former McKinsey consultant and only 35 years old (Source).
✓ One of his early framing questions was: “What if the problem is Lego itself?” (Source).

⚡ This question matters because it changes the solution set. If the problem is “kids changed,” you chase trends. If the problem is “we became unbuildable,” you cut complexity.

💬 Most leadership teams never ask the “maybe we’re the problem” question because it threatens internal status, pet projects, and the myth of progress. But turnarounds rarely fail due to a lack of ideas—they fail because you refuse to kill ideas you already shipped.

Decision 2: Cut complexity first (parts, lines, headcount)

LEGO’s core failure mode in 2003 wasn’t lack of creativity. It was the operational cost of too much creativity.

✓ LEGO had expanded into theme parks, clothing, watches, TV shows, video games, and publishing, diluting focus (Source).
✓ LEGO was producing over 7,000 unique parts (and some accounts cite ~13,000 SKUs)—a manufacturing and inventory nightmare (Source) (Source).
✓ Knudstorp’s early moves included cutting unique bricks by ~30%, cutting product lines by ~30%, and laying off ~1,000 employees (Source).
✓ One reported simplification: reducing SKUs from ~13,000 to ~7,000 (Source).

⚡ Turnaround math is simple: you don’t get to “strategic” until you stop bleeding. Complexity is bleeding—quietly, constantly, and often invisibly to leadership.

💬 The lesson isn’t “cut 30%.” The lesson is to identify the unit of complexity that actually drives cost in your business. For LEGO, it was unique parts and product sprawl. For a SaaS company, it might be custom enterprise features. For a hardware company, it might be variants.

Decision 3: Sell the “cool” businesses to save the boring one

A lot of CEOs do the opposite: they protect the shiny experiments and starve the core.

LEGO made an unfashionable move: divest.

✓ LEGO sold theme parks (LEGOLAND)—a divestment of non-core assets (Source).

⚡ Selling non-core assets does three things at once: it raises cash, cuts management overhead, and forces the company to stop pretending it can be five businesses.

💬 If you can’t explain how a business line compounds your core advantage, it’s probably not a strategy. It’s a hobby with a P&L.

Decision 4: Rebuild the go-to-market around fewer, bigger channels

Turnarounds aren’t just product. They’re distribution discipline.

✓ LEGO narrowed its supplier and retailer base and focused on large retailers, simplifying the commercial engine (Source).

⚡ Complexity in distribution mirrors complexity in product. Too many channels means too many planograms, too many packaging variations, too many forecasting errors—more “work” that doesn’t create more value.

💬 “Focus” is usually sold as a brand idea. In reality, it’s an ops decision: fewer SKUs × fewer channels × fewer suppliers = more predictability, better cash conversion.

Decision 5: Use partnerships to go digital—on LEGO’s terms

LEGO did not ignore digital. It stopped trying to build digital like a software company.

✓ LEGO strategically embraced digital by licensing video games (e.g., Star Wars, Harry Potter) instead of building everything in-house (Source).
⚡ LEGO leaned into strategic IP partnerships (Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, Disney), and secondary reporting suggests Star Wars sets increased revenue ~35% (Source) — not confirmed in LEGO's own filings.
✓ The LEGO Movie (2014) became a major cultural moment, and LEGO’s media strategy leaned on licensing/partnership rather than fully owning a film studio stack (Source) (Source).
✓ LEGO Ideas institutionalized fan co-creation via an official platform (Source).

⚡ Partnerships were LEGO’s “do-less” strategy in digital: borrow distribution, borrow IP, borrow expertise—while keeping the core system (bricks) central.

💬 This is a subtle CEO skill: knowing what you must own versus what you can rent. If you try to own everything, you become mediocre at everything.

The operational proof: margins and the debt exit

You can tell a turnaround is real when it shows up in margins and balance sheet—not press releases.

✓ By 2006, LEGO’s operating margin had recovered to 15.6% (Source).
✓ By 2010, LEGO had reportedly eliminated all debt (Source).

⚡ Cutting complexity created the financial oxygen that made smarter growth possible.

💬 The temptation in a recovery is to re-expand immediately. LEGO’s bigger win was building a discipline that prevented the relapse.

The payoff: CES 2026 SMART Play (innovation from strength, not panic)

In 2003, LEGO was “innovating” by scattering. In 2026, it’s innovating by upgrading the core system.

✓ LEGO unveiled SMART Play at CES 2026 in Las Vegas (reported date: Jan 5/6, 2026 coverage) (Source).
✓ The LEGO SMART Brick includes a custom chip and capabilities such as sensors, accelerometers, light sensing, a sound sensor, a mini speaker, an onboard synthesiser, and wireless charging (Source).
✓ SMART Play includes SMART Tags and SMART Minifigures for responsive play experiences (Source).
✓ LEGO says the elements remain compatible with the existing LEGO System-in-Play (Source).
✓ A reported feature: BrickNet, a Bluetooth-based system that lets Smart Bricks communicate directly with each other without requiring an app (Source).
✓ The first SMART Play launch was reported as three Star Wars sets with a March 1, 2026 release and $69–$160 pricing range (Source).
✓ LEGO leadership positioned it as “screen-free” creative play—“all without a screen,” per its Creative Play Lab SVP (Source).

⚡ Here’s the strategy arc: once you reduce parts, simplify manufacturing, and restore margins, you can afford to place carefully scoped technology inside a brick—without turning LEGO into a gadget company.

💬 SMART Play is what “do less” buys you: the right to do something new that still feels like you.

If you want a parallel case where a CEO returned to the core before rebuilding growth, read Howard Schultz’s third Starbucks turnaround.

FORKED Scorecard: Turnaround by Subtraction

Use this scorecard when you’re staring at a messy business and you don’t know whether to add a new initiative or start cutting.

Rate each dimension 1–10 (10 = strong). If your “Complexity Load” is high and “Cash Oxygen” is low, you don’t need a vision deck—you need a kill list.

Complexity Load (parts/SKUs/processes): How many unique things do you support—and how many are actually profitable?
Cash Oxygen (runway, debt pressure, burn): How many weeks until you lose the right to choose?
Core Compounding (does the core get stronger?): Does each new product make the core easier to sell/build/distribute?
Channel Discipline: Are you concentrated in channels you can execute well, or spread thin “for coverage”?
Build vs Rent Clarity: Do you know what must be owned (differentiation) vs rented (speed/scale)?
Cultural Accountability: Do teams feel rewarded for killing projects—or only for launching them?
Relapse Risk: If revenue rises 10%, will you re-add complexity and repeat the same failure?

💬 The LEGO test: if your “innovation” increases your parts count, vendor count, and forecasting error, it’s probably not innovation. It’s entropy.

Contrarian finding

LEGO didn’t win by becoming more ambitious. It won by becoming more selective.

Most companies treat focus like a temporary diet: cut until you feel better, then binge.

LEGO treated focus like an operating system.

✓ Brick sets still make up 85%+ of revenue in one recent estimate (Source).
✓ In 2024, LEGO reported record revenue of 74.3B DKK (~$10B) (Source).

⚡ This is why CES 2026 matters: a company that almost died from overreach is now launching high-tech bricks that remain compatible with the classic system. That’s not “reinventing.” That’s compounding.

💬 Turnarounds don’t need more ideas. They need the courage to delete.

Hidden cost

“Do less” is not free.

1) You will kill internal identity projects. People don’t just lose jobs; they lose meaning.

✓ Knudstorp’s early turnaround period included layoffs of ~1,000 employees (Source).

2) You will sell assets that feel prestigious. Theme parks are fun. They’re also a distraction.

✓ LEGO sold theme parks (LEGOLAND) as part of divesting non-core assets (Source).

3) You might under-shoot the market temporarily. While you simplify, competitors can look “more innovative.” Your job is to survive long enough to be right.

💬 Here’s the uncomfortable truth: a lot of “innovation culture” is just a polite way of saying “we don’t have the discipline to choose.”

If you want the darker version of a comeback story—where rebuilding credibility is the main product—read Luckin Coffee’s post-fraud recovery.

What would you do?

Imagine it’s 2003.

You’re looking at debt, collapsing margins, and a product catalog that no one can execute. The board wants a “growth plan.” The factory wants fewer parts. Retailers want fewer confusing sets. Designers want freedom.

💬 Your move isn’t “a strategy.” Your move is a sequence of cuts.

Vote in the poll above—then ask yourself one follow-up question:

If you cut the thing you know you should cut, what political cost will you pay inside the company?

That’s the real barrier.

FAQ

1) Was LEGO really close to bankruptcy in 2003?

✓ By 2003, LEGO had $800M in debt and was losing ~$1M per day—a crisis widely described as near-bankruptcy territory (Source).

2) What caused LEGO’s crisis in the early 2000s?

✓ LEGO expanded into multiple non-core categories (theme parks, apparel, watches, media, games, publishing), contributing to brand dilution and complexity (Source).
✓ Complexity ballooned with thousands of unique parts/SKUs, raising manufacturing costs (Source).

3) Who led LEGO’s turnaround?

✓ Jørgen Vig Knudstorp became CEO in 2004 at age 35 (Source).

4) What were the most important steps in LEGO’s turnaround?

✓ LEGO cut product/parts complexity and reduced product lines, including layoffs of ~1,000 employees (Source).
✓ LEGO divested non-core assets like theme parks (LEGOLAND) (Source).
✓ LEGO leaned into partnerships and licensing rather than building every capability in-house (Source).

5) How did LEGO’s financial performance improve after the turnaround?

✓ Operating margin recovered to 15.6% by 2006 (Source).
✓ LEGO reportedly eliminated all debt by 2010 (Source).

6) What is LEGO SMART Play from CES 2026?

✓ SMART Play was unveiled at CES 2026 and features a SMART Brick with sensors and audio features, designed for interactive play (Source).

7) Is SMART Play compatible with normal LEGO bricks?

✓ LEGO states SMART Play elements are compatible with the existing LEGO System-in-Play (Source).

8) Does SMART Play require an app or a screen?

✓ LEGO framed SMART Play as interactive play “all without a screen” (Source).
✓ A reported system feature, BrickNet, enables Smart Bricks to communicate without an app requirement (Source).

9) When did the first SMART Play sets launch and how much do they cost?

✓ Coverage reported the first launch as three Star Wars sets with a March 1, 2026 release and $69–$160 pricing (Source).

10) What’s the simplest takeaway for founders and operators?

⚡ Before you add a new initiative, cut one layer of complexity that is actively taxing execution.

💬 If your team can’t say no, your strategy is fictional.

Sources

🔀 What Would You Do?

If you were LEGO’s CEO in 2003, what would you cut first?

🔀 One CEO decision, dissected weekly

No fluff. No hero worship. Just frameworks, data, and a decision model you can steal.

Unsubscribe anytime. We don't sell your data.

⚠️

Disclaimer

This article was researched and written with AI assistance by the FORKED editorial team, with human review. Markers: ✓ = verified fact, ⚡ = reasoned inference, 💬 = editorial opinion. While we strive for accuracy, information may contain gaps or errors. This is not investment, legal, or business advice.

All analysis is based on publicly available information. If you spot a factual error or have copyright concerns, please use the report button below or contact us.

DMCA Takedown

FORKED Editorial

2026-03-01

中文Startup Strategy🔄 Turnaround / Crisis Recovery10 min read2026-03-01

5 LEGO Cuts That Took It From $1M/Day Losses to a $10B Year

LEGOturnaroundfocusproduct-strategycost-cuttingpartnershipsinnovation

Decision Muscles

TL;DR

✓ By 2003, LEGO had piled up $800M in debt and was losing ~$1M per day—a near-death spiral caused as much by internal complexity as market shifts (Source).
⚡ The turnaround play wasn’t “innovate harder.” It was “do less, do it better”—cut the things that made LEGO unmanageable, then rebuild growth on the core.
✓ In 2004, 35-year-old Jørgen Vig Knudstorp took over as CEO and immediately treated LEGO as a system problem, not a marketing problem (Source).
✓ LEGO cut complexity (parts/products), sold non-core assets, and used partnerships (instead of building everything in-house) to regain margins and scale (Source).
✓ The payoff shows up decades later: at CES 2026, LEGO unveiled SMART Play—screen-free, sensor-packed bricks that still stay compatible with the classic system (Source).

Hook + background

In most turnaround stories, the hero is “innovation.” New products. New markets. New narratives.

LEGO’s rescue story is uglier—and more useful.

The result was predictable: more SKUs, more tooling, more supply chain chaos, more overhead—less cash.

✓ By 2003, LEGO had $800M in debt and was losing ~$1M a day (Source).
✓ By 2003, sales were down ~30% YoY (Source).
✓ Operating margin collapsed from ~18–19% in the late 1990s to 2.4% by 2003 (Source).

Here’s the contrarian part: LEGO didn’t “turn around” by becoming more experimental.

It turned around by getting ruthless about what not to do.

Core decision breakdown (✓ facts / ⚡ inferences / 💬 commentary)

Decision 1: Admit the problem might be LEGO itself

✓ When Knudstorp became CEO in 2004, he was a former McKinsey consultant and only 35 years old (Source).
✓ One of his early framing questions was: “What if the problem is Lego itself?” (Source).

⚡ This question matters because it changes the solution set. If the problem is “kids changed,” you chase trends. If the problem is “we became unbuildable,” you cut complexity.

Decision 2: Cut complexity first (parts, lines, headcount)

LEGO’s core failure mode in 2003 wasn’t lack of creativity. It was the operational cost of too much creativity.

✓ LEGO had expanded into theme parks, clothing, watches, TV shows, video games, and publishing, diluting focus (Source).
✓ LEGO was producing over 7,000 unique parts (and some accounts cite ~13,000 SKUs)—a manufacturing and inventory nightmare (Source) (Source).
✓ Knudstorp’s early moves included cutting unique bricks by ~30%, cutting product lines by ~30%, and laying off ~1,000 employees (Source).
✓ One reported simplification: reducing SKUs from ~13,000 to ~7,000 (Source).

⚡ Turnaround math is simple: you don’t get to “strategic” until you stop bleeding. Complexity is bleeding—quietly, constantly, and often invisibly to leadership.

Decision 3: Sell the “cool” businesses to save the boring one

A lot of CEOs do the opposite: they protect the shiny experiments and starve the core.

LEGO made an unfashionable move: divest.

✓ LEGO sold theme parks (LEGOLAND)—a divestment of non-core assets (Source).

⚡ Selling non-core assets does three things at once: it raises cash, cuts management overhead, and forces the company to stop pretending it can be five businesses.

💬 If you can’t explain how a business line compounds your core advantage, it’s probably not a strategy. It’s a hobby with a P&L.

Decision 4: Rebuild the go-to-market around fewer, bigger channels

Turnarounds aren’t just product. They’re distribution discipline.

✓ LEGO narrowed its supplier and retailer base and focused on large retailers, simplifying the commercial engine (Source).

💬 “Focus” is usually sold as a brand idea. In reality, it’s an ops decision: fewer SKUs × fewer channels × fewer suppliers = more predictability, better cash conversion.

Decision 5: Use partnerships to go digital—on LEGO’s terms

LEGO did not ignore digital. It stopped trying to build digital like a software company.

✓ LEGO strategically embraced digital by licensing video games (e.g., Star Wars, Harry Potter) instead of building everything in-house (Source).
⚡ LEGO leaned into strategic IP partnerships (Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, Disney), and secondary reporting suggests Star Wars sets increased revenue ~35% (Source) — not confirmed in LEGO's own filings.
✓ The LEGO Movie (2014) became a major cultural moment, and LEGO’s media strategy leaned on licensing/partnership rather than fully owning a film studio stack (Source) (Source).
✓ LEGO Ideas institutionalized fan co-creation via an official platform (Source).

⚡ Partnerships were LEGO’s “do-less” strategy in digital: borrow distribution, borrow IP, borrow expertise—while keeping the core system (bricks) central.

💬 This is a subtle CEO skill: knowing what you must own versus what you can rent. If you try to own everything, you become mediocre at everything.

The operational proof: margins and the debt exit

You can tell a turnaround is real when it shows up in margins and balance sheet—not press releases.

✓ By 2006, LEGO’s operating margin had recovered to 15.6% (Source).
✓ By 2010, LEGO had reportedly eliminated all debt (Source).

⚡ Cutting complexity created the financial oxygen that made smarter growth possible.

💬 The temptation in a recovery is to re-expand immediately. LEGO’s bigger win was building a discipline that prevented the relapse.

The payoff: CES 2026 SMART Play (innovation from strength, not panic)

In 2003, LEGO was “innovating” by scattering. In 2026, it’s innovating by upgrading the core system.

✓ LEGO unveiled SMART Play at CES 2026 in Las Vegas (reported date: Jan 5/6, 2026 coverage) (Source).
✓ The LEGO SMART Brick includes a custom chip and capabilities such as sensors, accelerometers, light sensing, a sound sensor, a mini speaker, an onboard synthesiser, and wireless charging (Source).
✓ SMART Play includes SMART Tags and SMART Minifigures for responsive play experiences (Source).
✓ LEGO says the elements remain compatible with the existing LEGO System-in-Play (Source).
✓ A reported feature: BrickNet, a Bluetooth-based system that lets Smart Bricks communicate directly with each other without requiring an app (Source).
✓ The first SMART Play launch was reported as three Star Wars sets with a March 1, 2026 release and $69–$160 pricing range (Source).
✓ LEGO leadership positioned it as “screen-free” creative play—“all without a screen,” per its Creative Play Lab SVP (Source).

💬 SMART Play is what “do less” buys you: the right to do something new that still feels like you.

If you want a parallel case where a CEO returned to the core before rebuilding growth, read Howard Schultz’s third Starbucks turnaround.

FORKED Scorecard: Turnaround by Subtraction

Use this scorecard when you’re staring at a messy business and you don’t know whether to add a new initiative or start cutting.

Rate each dimension 1–10 (10 = strong). If your “Complexity Load” is high and “Cash Oxygen” is low, you don’t need a vision deck—you need a kill list.

Complexity Load (parts/SKUs/processes): How many unique things do you support—and how many are actually profitable?
Cash Oxygen (runway, debt pressure, burn): How many weeks until you lose the right to choose?
Core Compounding (does the core get stronger?): Does each new product make the core easier to sell/build/distribute?
Channel Discipline: Are you concentrated in channels you can execute well, or spread thin “for coverage”?
Build vs Rent Clarity: Do you know what must be owned (differentiation) vs rented (speed/scale)?
Cultural Accountability: Do teams feel rewarded for killing projects—or only for launching them?
Relapse Risk: If revenue rises 10%, will you re-add complexity and repeat the same failure?

💬 The LEGO test: if your “innovation” increases your parts count, vendor count, and forecasting error, it’s probably not innovation. It’s entropy.

Contrarian finding

LEGO didn’t win by becoming more ambitious. It won by becoming more selective.

Most companies treat focus like a temporary diet: cut until you feel better, then binge.

LEGO treated focus like an operating system.

✓ Brick sets still make up 85%+ of revenue in one recent estimate (Source).
✓ In 2024, LEGO reported record revenue of 74.3B DKK (~$10B) (Source).

💬 Turnarounds don’t need more ideas. They need the courage to delete.

Hidden cost

“Do less” is not free.

1) You will kill internal identity projects. People don’t just lose jobs; they lose meaning.

✓ Knudstorp’s early turnaround period included layoffs of ~1,000 employees (Source).

2) You will sell assets that feel prestigious. Theme parks are fun. They’re also a distraction.

✓ LEGO sold theme parks (LEGOLAND) as part of divesting non-core assets (Source).

3) You might under-shoot the market temporarily. While you simplify, competitors can look “more innovative.” Your job is to survive long enough to be right.

💬 Here’s the uncomfortable truth: a lot of “innovation culture” is just a polite way of saying “we don’t have the discipline to choose.”

If you want the darker version of a comeback story—where rebuilding credibility is the main product—read Luckin Coffee’s post-fraud recovery.

What would you do?

Imagine it’s 2003.

💬 Your move isn’t “a strategy.” Your move is a sequence of cuts.

Vote in the poll above—then ask yourself one follow-up question:

If you cut the thing you know you should cut, what political cost will you pay inside the company?

That’s the real barrier.

FAQ

1) Was LEGO really close to bankruptcy in 2003?

✓ By 2003, LEGO had $800M in debt and was losing ~$1M per day—a crisis widely described as near-bankruptcy territory (Source).

2) What caused LEGO’s crisis in the early 2000s?

✓ LEGO expanded into multiple non-core categories (theme parks, apparel, watches, media, games, publishing), contributing to brand dilution and complexity (Source).
✓ Complexity ballooned with thousands of unique parts/SKUs, raising manufacturing costs (Source).

3) Who led LEGO’s turnaround?

✓ Jørgen Vig Knudstorp became CEO in 2004 at age 35 (Source).

4) What were the most important steps in LEGO’s turnaround?

✓ LEGO cut product/parts complexity and reduced product lines, including layoffs of ~1,000 employees (Source).
✓ LEGO divested non-core assets like theme parks (LEGOLAND) (Source).
✓ LEGO leaned into partnerships and licensing rather than building every capability in-house (Source).

5) How did LEGO’s financial performance improve after the turnaround?

✓ Operating margin recovered to 15.6% by 2006 (Source).
✓ LEGO reportedly eliminated all debt by 2010 (Source).

6) What is LEGO SMART Play from CES 2026?

✓ SMART Play was unveiled at CES 2026 and features a SMART Brick with sensors and audio features, designed for interactive play (Source).

7) Is SMART Play compatible with normal LEGO bricks?

✓ LEGO states SMART Play elements are compatible with the existing LEGO System-in-Play (Source).

8) Does SMART Play require an app or a screen?

✓ LEGO framed SMART Play as interactive play “all without a screen” (Source).
✓ A reported system feature, BrickNet, enables Smart Bricks to communicate without an app requirement (Source).

9) When did the first SMART Play sets launch and how much do they cost?

✓ Coverage reported the first launch as three Star Wars sets with a March 1, 2026 release and $69–$160 pricing (Source).

10) What’s the simplest takeaway for founders and operators?

⚡ Before you add a new initiative, cut one layer of complexity that is actively taxing execution.

💬 If your team can’t say no, your strategy is fictional.

Sources

🔀 What Would You Do?

If you were LEGO’s CEO in 2003, what would you cut first?

🔀 One CEO decision, dissected weekly

No fluff. No hero worship. Just frameworks, data, and a decision model you can steal.

Unsubscribe anytime. We don't sell your data.

⚠️

Disclaimer

All analysis is based on publicly available information. If you spot a factual error or have copyright concerns, please use the report button below or contact us.

DMCA Takedown

FORKED Editorial

2026-03-01

5 LEGO Cuts That Took It From $1M/Day Losses to a $10B Year

TL;DR

Hook + background

Core decision breakdown (✓ facts / ⚡ inferences / 💬 commentary)

Decision 1: Admit the problem might be LEGO itself

Decision 2: Cut complexity first (parts, lines, headcount)

Decision 3: Sell the “cool” businesses to save the boring one

Decision 4: Rebuild the go-to-market around fewer, bigger channels

Decision 5: Use partnerships to go digital—on LEGO’s terms

The operational proof: margins and the debt exit

The payoff: CES 2026 SMART Play (innovation from strength, not panic)

FORKED Scorecard: Turnaround by Subtraction

Contrarian finding

Hidden cost

What would you do?

FAQ

Related reads

Sources

🔀 What Would You Do?

💬 Discussion

Related Posts

Luckin Coffee Faked $310M in Sales, Got Delisted, Then Crushed Starbucks. Here's the Decision Playbook.

3 CEO Returns: Howard Schultz Closed 600 Stores and Saved Starbucks

The Decision Discipline Behind 100 No’s: How Canva’s Melanie Perkins Bought Her Way Into the Room

5 LEGO Cuts That Took It From $1M/Day Losses to a $10B Year

TL;DR

Hook + background

Core decision breakdown (✓ facts / ⚡ inferences / 💬 commentary)

Decision 1: Admit the problem might be LEGO itself

Decision 2: Cut complexity first (parts, lines, headcount)

Decision 3: Sell the “cool” businesses to save the boring one

Decision 4: Rebuild the go-to-market around fewer, bigger channels

Decision 5: Use partnerships to go digital—on LEGO’s terms

The operational proof: margins and the debt exit

The payoff: CES 2026 SMART Play (innovation from strength, not panic)

FORKED Scorecard: Turnaround by Subtraction

Contrarian finding

Hidden cost

What would you do?

FAQ

Related reads

Sources

🔀 What Would You Do?

💬 Discussion

Related Posts

Luckin Coffee Faked $310M in Sales, Got Delisted, Then Crushed Starbucks. Here's the Decision Playbook.

3 CEO Returns: Howard Schultz Closed 600 Stores and Saved Starbucks

The Decision Discipline Behind 100 No’s: How Canva’s Melanie Perkins Bought Her Way Into the Room