Marcos Galperin

About

Argentine billionaire entrepreneur best known for his work as the co-founder, CEO, and executive chair of MercadoLibre, which operates in 18 countries and is widely recognized as the top e-commerce and fintech ecosystem in Latin America. He founded the company in 1999 while he was attending Stanford University before the company went public on NASDAQ in 2007 and went on to boast a market value over $100 billion. In May 2025, he declared that he would step down as CEO at the end of the year, assuming a role as Executive Chairman.

Before Fame

He was raised within a family that owned a major leather manufacturing company called Sadesa. He graduated with honors in economics and finance from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 before going on to earn an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1999. Before founding MercadoLibre, h worked at YPF in Argentina and interned at J.P. Morgan.

Trivia

In 2023, he joined a consortium investing approximately $6.5 million in the Miami Sharks, a Major League Rugby startup franchise. He has been widely recognized as the wealthiest person in Argentina.

Family Life

He was the fourth of five sons born to parents Ernesto and Silvia Julia Galperin. His grandfather was the founder of Sadesa, one of the largest leather manufacturers in Argentina. He shares three children with his wife, Karina, whom he married on March 11, 2000.

Associated With

He and Beto Pérez are both notable Latin American entrepreneurs.