that since the Lego Star Wars release, Lego has grown "more comfortable with conflict." Mr. Laursen, executive North American operations suggested to make "violence not explicit, but humoristic." Licensed properties did provide a short-term boost to profits during the release of blockbuster movies; however, sales would taper off after public excitement died down. Furthermore, the added cost of the license resulted in such sets being more expensive which alienated long-time fans, who also bemoaned the declining quality and reduced availability of comparable sets not based on licensing. After 1999, many in-house characters were strongly characterised with media utilisation and non-Lego System merchandising, most notably Bionicle from 2001 to 2010 and then again in 2016. In 2002, Duplo was merged with Lego Baby into the new label Lego Explore. In 2003, following the inclusion of Lando Calrissian in a Star Wars set, as well as the Basketball theme featuring the likenesses of actual players, it was decided that minifigs based on real persons and live-action franchises would have natural skin-tones. In 2004, Lego posted a loss of £174 million, with the executive vice-president of marketing Mads Nipper later describing the company as having been "almost bankrupt" at this point. He analysed in retrospect that "we continued to invest as if the company were growing strongly. We failed to realise that we were on a slippery path… Children were getting less and less time to play. Some of the western markets had fewer and fewer children. So play trends changed, and we failed to change. We were not making toys that were sufficiently interesting to children. We failed to innovate enough. And we had nowhere cut deep enough to right-size the company". In 2004, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen resigned as CEO and appointed Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the first non-family CEO. The company sold the four Legoland parks to theme-park operators Merlin Entertainments, and manufacturing, 80% of which had been outsourced, was returned to Lego's control. Recovery (2005–present) The company focused on its core products and reintroduced the Duplo label in late 2004. Since 2004, manufacturing had been moved to Mexico and distribution relocated from Billund to the Czech Republic. By 2007 a global workforce of 9,100 in 1998 was reduced to 4,200 due to outsourcing. In the US alone, Lego sales increased 32 percent because of Star Wars and Indiana Jones-themed games, while globally 2008 sales increased 18.7 percent. Mr. Laursen, Lego executive