Marcos Galperin
| Marcos Galperín | |
|---|---|
Marcos Galperin in 2009
|
|
| Born |
October 31, 1971 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Residence | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Alma mater |
University of Pennsylvania (BS 1994) Stanford University (MBA 1999) |
| Occupation | CEO of MercadoLibre.com |
| Known for | Co-founder of MercadoLibre.com |
| Net worth |
 US$1 billion (October 2016) |
| Children | 3 |
Marcos Galperín (born October 31, 1971) is an Argentine businessman, who is best known as the co‑founder and CEO of MercadoLibre.com.
Marcos Galperín was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a wealthy family, owners of SADESA, one of the largest leather companies in the world. He attended Colegio San Andrés in Olivos. In 1990, after graduating from high school, he travelled to the United States to study Finances at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. There, he became friend with José Estenssoro, YPF president's son. In 1994, he joined this company when he finished college and returned to Argentina.
In 1997, he returned to the United States and he enrolled at Stanford Graduate School of Business and in 1999 he earned his M.B.A.
Marcos began the company while still in business school at Stanford University. Finance professor Jack McDonald had been helping Marcos to contact potential investors, and asked John Muse, an invited speaker and co-founder of the Hicks Muse private equity fund, if Marcos could drive him to his private plane. Before boarding his plane, Muse expressed his desire to have his fund invest in the idea and soon thereafter the company started. MercadoLibre received funding from JPMorgan Partners, Flatiron Partners, Hicks Muse Tate and Furst, Goldman Sachs, GE Capital and Banco Santander Central Hispano. In September 2001 eBay acquired 19.5% of MercadoLibre in exchange for eBay's recently acquired Brazilian subsidiary of Ibazar.com.br. In this transaction, MercadoLibre also became eBay's exclusive partner for the Latin American region.
He is considered one of Argentina's top internet entrepreneurs. In 1999, Marcos Galperin was selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur. He currently serves on Endeavor Argentina's Board of Directors. Endeavor (non-profit) is a global non-profit that selects and supports High-Impact Entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors at Onapsis, the leading global experts in business-critical application security.
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