Thinggaard controls 18.8 percent of Lego, Europe's largest toymaker. The Billund, Denmark-based company makes more than 60 billion toy pieces annually and had revenue of more than $5.3 billion in 2017. She holds her stake through family investment vehicle Kirkbi, which also owns 30 percent of Merlin Entertainments Group.
Agnete Thinggaard's net worth of $4.88B can buy ...
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The majority of Thinggaard's fortune is derived from her 18.8 percent economic interest in Lego, Europe's largest toymaker. Her stake in the closely held company is held through Kirkbi, a Billund, Denmark-based holding company.
Kirkbi owns 75 percent of Lego, according to its 2017 annual report. Thinggaard, her father, Kjeld Kristiansen, and her two siblings each own 25 percent of Kirkbi, according to the group's spokeswoman, Ulla Lundhus. Prior to March 8, 2018, Thinggaard was assumed in this analysis to have a 16.3 percent stake in the company. Her stake was raised to 25 percent on this date leading to a $1.4 billion increase in the net worth calculation.
Lego had revenue of 35 billion Danish krone ($5.3 billion) in 2017, according to its annual report. Its valuation is based on the average enterprise value-to-Ebit multiple of one peer: Hasbro. The multiple used in this analysis was changed from enterprise value-to-Ebitda to enterprise value-to-Ebit and Mattel was removed on Feb. 6, 2018 after Mattel reported a decline in full-year 2017 Ebitda causing its Ebtida ratio to increase about tenfold.
Kirkbi also owns 30 percent of Merlin Entertainments Group, according to the company's 2016 annual report. Kirkbi's other public holdings include Matas, ISS, NKT Holding and Nilfisk Holding.
Thinggaard receives licensing fees and dividends from Lego, as disclosed in Kirkbi's annual reports. The value of her cash holdings and closely held investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and charitable contributions. Her liabilities include her share of Kirkbi's debt to Lego, as detailed in the 2017 annual report.
Roar Rude Trangbaek, a Lego spokesman, said Thinggaard declined to comment on her net worth.
Agnete Kirk Thinggaard was born in 1983, the great-granddaughter of Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who founded toymaker Lego in 1932. The Billund, Denmark-based company is the world's most-valuable toy manufacturer, reporting revenue of $5.3 billion 2017, and produces more than 60 billion of its bricks annually. Father Kjeld ran the company for 25 years from 1979 and built it into a global brand, which involved an expansion into Legoland theme parks in the 1990s and adding operations in the U.K., Germany and the U.S.
In the early 2000s, disappointing sales and competition from Hasbro and Mega Bloks saw Lego post its third annual loss in five years. Kristiansen began to implement a turnaround plan, shedding 1,000 jobs and pruning product lines, before stepping aside in 2004.
The company sold its 70 percent economic interest in its theme park business to private equity firm Blackstone in 2005. Kirkbi took an initial 15 percent stake in the newly formed Merlin Entertainments Group, which was increased to 36 percent in 2010. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange in November 2013. Kirkbi retains a 30 percent stake.
Kjeld Kristiansen served as first deputy chairman of Lego until April 2016, when he said that his son Thomas, Sofie's brother, would succeed him in the role as the first step towards a "smooth generational handover." Thomas also assumed his father's position as chairman of The Lego Foundation, which owns 25 percent of the toymaker.
The billionaire lives in Denmark.