Executive Chairman (designate), former CEO of Mercado Libre
Spouse
Karina
Children
3
Marcos Eduardo Galperin (born 31 October 1971) is an Argentine businessman and technology entrepreneur, best known as co-founder of Mercado Libre. He led the company as Chief Executive Officer for more than two decades and will become Executive Chairman on 1 January 2026. With an estimated net worth of about US$9.3 billion (as of 2025), he is widely regarded as Argentina’s richest individual.[1]
Marcos Eduardo Galperin was born on 31 October 1971 in Buenos Aires to a wealthy family of Jewish descent.[2] He is the fourth of five sons of Ernesto Galperin and Silvia Julia Galperin (née Lebach). His family owned SADESA, one of the world’s largest leather manufacturing companies.[1]
Galperin attended St. Andrew's Scots School in Olivos, where he played rugby and joined tours to Australia and New Zealand. He later studied finance at the Wharton School, graduating with a BA in 1994.[3] After returning to Argentina to work briefly – including at YPF – he completed an MBA at Stanford University in 1999.[4]
He married Karina on 11 March 2000, and they have three children.[5] Since 2002, he has lived mainly in Uruguay, dividing his time between Montevideo and Punta del Este. He briefly returned to Argentina during the Macri administration (2015–2019) but later moved back to Uruguay for its business-friendly environment.[6]
In 1999, while at Stanford, Galperin co-founded Mercado Libre with classmates and mentors from the Graduate School of Business. Originally designed as a Latin American version of eBay, it grew into a leading regional platform for e-commerce and fintech, including Mercado Pago (payments), Mercado Crédito (loans), Mercado Envíos (logistics) and Mercado Ads (marketing).[citation needed]
Under his leadership, Mercado Libre became Latin America’s largest publicly listed technology company. He has been recognised with the Konex Award (2008) and the Platinum Konex Award (2018) as one of Argentina’s most influential business figures.[8]
He also served on the board of Globant until 2020.[9] In 2023, he co-founded the Miami Sharks, a professional rugby union team based in Florida, and became one of its principal investors.[10]
Leadership transition
On 21 May 2025, Mercado Libre announced that Galperin would step down as CEO at the end of the year after 26 years in the role.[11] Ariel Szarfsztejn, head of the commerce division, will succeed him as CEO on 1 January 2026, while Galperin becomes Executive Chairman.[12]
In a letter to employees, he said he would remain focused on long-term strategy, capital allocation, corporate culture and AI-driven innovation.[13] Media coverage in 2025 highlighted Mercado Libre’s investment in artificial intelligence for credit risk, payments and logistics.[14]
Image licensing
The infobox image is available on Wikimedia Commons and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.[15]
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