AI interpretation based on checked source excerpts. Issuer assertions and evidence limitations remain explicit.
Policy quality-scores-2: six equally weighted categories. The overall score requires full coverage. Missing inputs are not zero. Qualitative grades are sourced interpretations, not probabilities. 5/6 · 18/10/2026
Moat56
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
structural advantage · 3/4 · A substantial third-party marketplace, expanding transaction activity and established fulfillment infrastructure demonstrate a strong operating foundation for network effects. Cross-side causality and relative competitive superiority remain partly inferred.
durability · 2/4 · Multi-year operating expansion and existing infrastructure support persistence, but rising support spending and nonexclusive carriers leave replication and monetization risks. Exceptional durability is not demonstrated.
customer dependency · 2/4 · Seller inventory stored in fulfillment centers and integrated commerce and payment services create operational embeddedness. The passages do not demonstrate customer exclusivity, material exit costs or dependence on MercadoLibre for most customer activity.
erosion resilience · 2/4 · Buyer and transaction growth show continued relevance, but lower shipping thresholds, higher marketing intensity and realized margin compression show a substantial cost of defending and expanding the ecosystem. These outcomes do not by themselves establish competitive displacement.
Pricing power38
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
realized pricing · 1/4 · The reduced free-shipping threshold in Brazil extended subsidized shipping to more purchases, demonstrating weaker realized shipping monetization. This may be a deliberate investment decision, but it does not demonstrate strong pricing power; other business-line pricing outcomes are missing.
retention · 2/4 · Growth in active buyers, items sold, payment transactions and monthly fintech activity provides indirect evidence of engagement and repeat demand. Aggregate expansion cannot distinguish retained users from acquisition, and metric-definition changes limit comparability; no retention rate is inferred.
margin resilience · 1/4 · First-half operating margin fell from 12.5% to 6.8%, with disclosed pressure from shipping subsidies, shipping costs and credit provisions. Continued profitability provides some cushion, but the observed decline demonstrates fragile margin protection over this period.
contractual freedom · 2/4 · MercadoLibre explicitly decides customer shipping charges separately from carrier payments, demonstrating pricing discretion. The disclosed demand tradeoff constrains its economic usefulness, and broader marketplace, advertising and fintech contractual pricing rights are not supplied.
Predictability62
Five consecutive annual periods. Equal weights: nondeclining revenue frequency; revenue-growth volatility (5–40pp); positive FCF frequency; FCF-margin volatility (3–20pp). Stability indicator, not a growth forecast.
- Nondeclining revenue years (%)
- 75.00
- Revenue growth volatility (pp)
- 19.38
- Positive FCF years (%)
- 100.00
- FCF margin volatility (pp)
- 17.54
Financial strength75
Equal-weight grades: debt/FCF (1–8x), net debt/earnings before interest and tax (0–5x), interest service (1–12x), current ratio (0.75–2x). Earnings use reported operating income, or reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense when operating income is unavailable. Interest service uses earnings/interest expense; if unavailable, it uses reported operating cash flow/cash interest paid, without relabeling cash paid as accrued expense. Nonpositive cash flow/earnings score 0 for their service component; reported zero interest with a positive numerator scores 100. Net cash scores 100 for net leverage. Missing disclosures remain unavailable. General nonfinancial-company rubric, not a credit rating; exceptional and nonoperating gains are not normalized out. IFRS finance-cost and cash-flow classifications retain their reported scope.
- debtFcfGrade
- 100.00
- netDebtEbitGrade
- 65.49
- interestCoverageGrade
- 100.00
- currentRatioGrade
- 33.80
- Debt / FCF (x)
- 0.85
- Net debt / operating income (x)
- 1.73
- Current ratio (x)
- 1.17
- cashInterestPaid
- 611.00
- cashInterestCoverage
- 19.83
Capital allocation—
Missing required inputs: sbcRevenue. Three-year equal-weight indicators: pretax return on average invested capital (0–25%; equity + debt − cash, each year and its prior year), share-count growth (0–5%, lower better), share-based cost/revenue (2–20%, lower better), consolidated FCF/net income (0–1x). Return uses reported operating income or, if unavailable, EBIT calculated from reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense; exceptional/nonoperating gains are not normalized out. Share-based cost uses the reported cash-flow add-back or, if absent, separately reported recognized compensation expense; the latter never becomes an FCF adjustment. Nonpositive net income scores 0 for cash conversion; absent income/FCF stays unavailable. Nonpositive invested capital has no defined return and remains unavailable. Does not establish acquisition quality or buyback timing.
- 3-year pre-tax operating return (%)
- 40.12
- 3-year average dilution (%)
- 0.23
- cashConversionGrade
- 100.00
Management63
Equal-weight average of four evidence-backed rubric grades (0–4), scaled to 100.
capital discipline · 2/4 · Actual capital spending accompanied substantial operating growth and positive cash generation, with little change in shares outstanding. However, lending investment, financing dependence, rising credit provisions and lower earnings make allocation outcomes mixed. Customer-fund inflows prevent treating reported operating cash as freely available owner cash.
incentive alignment · 3/4 · Approved programs spread cash awards over six years, require continued employment and link half of the target award to stock-price performance. Annual bonuses incorporate financial and operational goals. These are substantive alignment arrangements, although fixed payments, cash settlement and incomplete ownership evidence limit conclusions about total executive exposure.
execution · 3/4 · Multi-year expansion in buyers, items sold and payment activity, together with an operating fulfillment network handling more than half of shipments through fulfillment centers, demonstrates strong execution indirectly through company operating results. Margin compression and credit costs temper the assessment, and these results span leadership periods rather than proving one executive's contribution.
governance · 2/4 · Disclosed majority board independence, CEO exclusion from discussions setting CEO compensation and direct auditor reporting to the audit committee support oversight. The classified board limits annual accountability. These actual arrangements support a mixed assessment; they do not establish exceptional oversight effectiveness.
Evidence
Our e-commerce platform is the leader in the region based on gross merchandise volume (“GMV”), and our fintech platform is the leader in monthly active users (“MAUs”) among fintech companies in Argentina, Chile and Mexico, and the second largest in Brazil.
Business Overview / issuer market-leadership assertions · Filed 06/08/2026
Third-party sellers (“3P”) account for most of the GMV transacted on the Marketplace.
Business Overview / third-party marketplace participation · Filed 06/08/2026
We offer our users an ecosystem of integrated e-commerce and digital financial services, which includes: the Mercado Libre Marketplace, the Mercado Pago fintech platform, the Mercado Envios logistics service, the Mercado Ads solution and the Mercado Libre Classifieds service.
Business Overview / integrated ecosystem · Filed 06/08/2026
Our logistics network is built around fulfillment centers (which account for more than half of shipments), where sellers place their inventory in our warehouses, and cross-docking, where we collect items sold from sellers directly or via a network of thousands of partner stores (“MELI Places”) where sellers drop off sold items that need to be fed into our logistics network.
Business Overview / fulfillment centers and partner-store network · Filed 06/08/2026
The platform enables sellers and brands to access the millions of consumers who browse and purchase on our Marketplace, as well as the first-party data that all of these engagements generate.
Business Overview / advertising audience and first-party data · Filed 06/08/2026
Year Ended December 31, (1) 2025 2024 2023 (In millions, except percentages) Fintech monthly active users (2) 78 61 46 Unique active buyers (3) 121 100 85 Gross merchandise volume (4) $ 65,037 $ 51,467 $ 44,749 Number of items sold (5) 2,429 1,787 1,404 Total payment volume (6) $ 277,823 $ 196,660 $ 146,738 Acquiring total payments volume (7) $ 188,105 $ 142,200 $ 115,953 Total payment transactions (8) 15,470 11,355 7,595 NIMAL (9) 22.4 % 28.2 % 36.2 % Capital expenditures $ 1,327 $ 860 $ 509 Depreciation and amortization $ 818 $ 617 $ 524 (1) Figures have been calculated using rounded amounts.
Key performance indicators / 2023–2025 operating results · Filed 25/02/2026
Six Months Ended June 30, Three Months Ended June 30, 2026 2025 2026 2025 (In millions, except percentages) (1) (In millions, except percentages) (1) Fintech monthly active users (2) 88 68 88 68 Unique active buyers (3) 117 90 89 71 Gross merchandise volume (4) $ 40,877 $ 28,588 $ 21,926 $ 15,258 Number of items sold (5) 1,517 1,042 795 550 Total payment volume (6) $ 188,138 $ 122,905 $ 100,952 $ 64,602 Acquiring total payments volume (7) $ 120,072 $ 84,682 $ 64,079 $ 44,365 Total payment transactions (8) 9,821 6,951 5,181 3,607 NIMAL (9) 19.4 % 22.8 % 20.7 % 23.0 % Capital expenditures $ 712 $ 543 $ 441 $ 287 Depreciation and amortization $ 538 $ 371 $ 292 $ 199 (1) Growth calculations based on this table may not total due to rounding.
Key performance indicators / first-half and second-quarter 2026 comparisons · Filed 06/08/2026
The logistics services we offer are an integral and crucial part of our value proposition as they reduce friction between buyers and sellers, allow us to have greater control over the full user experience and enable faster deliveries at a more competitive cost than would otherwise be available with third-party carriers.
Business Overview / issuer logistics value and comparative-cost claims · Filed 06/08/2026
The following table presents sales and marketing expenses for the periods indicated: Six Months Ended June 30, Change from 2025 to 2026 Three Months Ended June 30, Change from 2025 to 2026 2026 2025 in Dollars in % 2026 2025 in Dollars in % (In millions, except percentages) (In millions, except percentages) Sales and marketing $ 2,113 $ 1,350 $ 763 56.5% $ 1,131 $ 751 $ 380 50.6% As a percentage of net revenues and financial income 11.1 % 10.6 % 11.1 % 11.1 % For the six-month period ended June 30, 2026, the increase in sales and marketing expenses as compared to the same period in 2025 was primarily attributable to a: i) $482 million increase in online and offline marketing expenses mainly in Brazil and Mexico; ii) $155 million increase in our buyer protection program expenses; and iii) $90 million increase in salaries and wages mainly related to the increase of 37% in our sales and marketing headcount.
MD&A / realized sales and marketing spending · Filed 06/08/2026
For the six and three-month periods ended June 30, 2026, as compared to the same periods in 2025, our operating income margin decreased from 12.5% and 12.2% to 6.8% and 6.7%, respectively.
MD&A / realized operating-margin compression · Filed 06/08/2026
This decrease is mainly explained by the reduction of our free shipping threshold in Brazil, together with an increase in our shipping operating costs, our cost of net revenues and financial expenses and our provision of doubtful accounts, driven by the expansion of our credit card portfolio, as a percentage of net revenues and financial income, partially offset by a decrease in product and technology development, as a percentage of net revenues and financial income.
MD&A / lower free-shipping threshold, shipping costs and credit provisions · Filed 06/08/2026
We rely on a number of local carriers (through non-exclusivity agreements) to receive the inventories for our first-party business and on third parties to ship orders to customers.
Risk factors / nonexclusive carrier agreements · Filed 25/02/2026
The decision to raise the shipping fees charged to users may have a negative effect on Mercado Envios’ shipping volume, and the decision not to do so may result in a decrease in the operating margins of our commerce operations.
Risk factors / potential shipping-price and volume tradeoff · Filed 25/02/2026
We generally pay local carriers directly for their shipping costs, and separately decide the shipping costs paid by our customers.
Risk factors / discretion over customer shipping charges · Filed 25/02/2026
dollars) (Unaudited) Six Months Ended June 30, 2026 2025 Cash flows from operations: Net income $ 883 $ 1,017 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Unrealized foreign currency (gains) losses, net (124) 95 Depreciation and amortization 538 371 Accrued interest, financial income and other revenues (681) (325) Non cash interest expense and amortization of debt issuance costs and other charges 205 173 Provision for doubtful accounts 2,520 1,293 Provision for contingencies 88 51 Results on derivative instruments 153 52 Results on digital assets at fair value — (4) Long term retention program (“LTRP”) accrued compensation 165 188 Deferred income taxes (606) (154) Changes in assets and liabilities: Receivables (1,535) (1,057) Inventories (226) (100) Other assets (179) (243) Payables and accrued expenses 1,038 423 Funds payable to customers 2,456 1,636 Amounts payable due to credit and debit card transactions 1,209 415 Other liabilities 6 95 Operating lease liabilities (255) (198) Interest received from investments 82 220 Net cash provided by operating activities 5,737 3,948 Cash flows from investing activities: Purchases of investments (5,436) (6,449) Proceeds from sale and maturity of investments 6,140 6,803 Proceeds from settlements of derivative instruments 23 2 Payments from settlements of derivative instruments (108) (8) Changes in loans receivable, net (4,069) (2,856) Investments in property and equipment, intangible assets and intangible assets at fair value (712) (559) Net cash used in investing activities (4,162) (3,067) Cash flows from financing activities: Proceeds from loans payable and other financial liabilities 42,544 18,725 Payments on loans payable and other financing liabilities (41,408) (17,621) Payments of finance lease liabilities (32) (26) Common Stock repurchased (1) — Net cash provided by financing activities 1,103 1,078 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and cash equivalents 548 230 Net increase in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and cash equivalents 3,226 2,189 Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period 13,537 4,699 Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and cash equivalents, end of the period $ 16,763 $ 6,888 The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements.
Interim consolidated cash flows / operating cash, lending investment, capital spending and financing · Filed 06/08/2026
dollars, except par value) (Unaudited) June 30, 2026 December 31, 2025 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 3,649 $ 3,670 Restricted cash and cash equivalents 13,114 9,867 Short-term investments 2,081 2,629 Accounts receivable, net 418 369 Credit card receivables and other means of payments, net 8,349 6,893 Loans receivable, net of allowances of $4,251 and $3,057 11,412 8,855 Inventories 822 570 Other assets 937 720 Total current assets 40,782 33,573 Non-current assets: Long-term investments 1,715 1,764 Credit card receivables and other means of payments, net 170 153 Loans receivable, net of allowances of $128 and $86 584 510 Property and equipment, net 2,725 2,303 Operating lease right-of-use assets 2,560 2,201 Goodwill 168 163 Intangible assets, net 30 33 Deferred tax assets 2,167 1,541 Other assets 455 426 Total non-current assets 10,574 9,094 Total assets $ 51,356 $ 42,667 Liabilities Current liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued expenses $ 5,739 $ 4,502 Funds payable to customers 16,035 13,029 Amounts payable due to credit and debit card transactions 4,996 3,584 Salaries and social security payable 830 916 Taxes payable 1,219 1,140 Loans payable and other financial liabilities 6,482 4,623 Operating lease liabilities 513 430 Other liabilities 558 409 Total current liabilities 36,372 28,633 Non-current liabilities: Amounts payable due to credit and debit card transactions 188 187 Loans payable and other financial liabilities 4,144 4,570 Operating lease liabilities 2,037 1,769 Deferred tax liabilities 312 372 Other liabilities 469 388 Total non-current liabilities 7,150 7,286 Total liabilities $ 43,522 $ 35,919 Commitments and contingencies (Note 8) Equity Common stock, $0.001 par value, 110,000,000 shares authorized, 50,696,802 and 50,697,182 shares issued and outstanding $ — $ — Additional paid-in capital 1,772 1,771 Treasury stock, 226,593 and 225,931 shares (313) (312) Retained earnings 6,692 5,809 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (317) (520) Total equity 7,834 6,748 Total liabilities and equity $ 51,356 $ 42,667 The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements.
Interim balance sheets / liquidity restrictions, debt, loan allowances and shares outstanding · Filed 06/08/2026
Capital expenditures Our capital expenditures comprised of our investments in property and equipment (such as certain assets used in our fulfillment centers) and intangible assets (excluding digital assets) for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 amounted to $1,327 million and $860 million, respectively.
MD&A / 2024–2025 capital expenditures · Filed 25/02/2026
61 | MercadoLibre, Inc. Table of Contents Equity price risk Our board of directors, upon the recommendation of the compensation committee, approved the 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 Long Term Retention Programs (the “2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 LTRPs,” respectively), under which certain eligible employees have the opportunity to receive cash payments annually for a period of up to six years.
Equity price risk / approved long-term retention programs · Filed 06/08/2026
In order to receive the full target award under the 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and/or 2026 LTRPs, each eligible employee must remain employed as of each applicable payment date.
Equity price risk / continued-employment requirements · Filed 06/08/2026
The 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 LTRP awards are generally payable as follows: ■the eligible employee will receive 16.66% of half of his or her target 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and/or 2026 LTRP bonus once a year for a period of six years, with the first payment occurring no later than April 30, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027, respectively (the “2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026 Annual Fixed Payment,” respectively); and ■on each date we pay the respective Annual Fixed Payment to an eligible employee, he or she will also receive a payment (the “2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026 Variable Payment”) equal to the product of (i) 16.66% of half of the target 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and/or 2026 LTRP bonus and (ii) the quotient of (a) divided by (b), where (a), the numerator, equals the Applicable Year Stock Price (as defined below) and (b), the denominator, equals the average closing price of our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market during the final 60 trading days of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 defined as $1,431.26, $1,391.81, $888.69, $1,426.11, $1,944.47 and $2,094.65 for the 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 LTRPs, respectively.
Equity price risk / six-year fixed and stock-price-linked compensation terms · Filed 06/08/2026
Annual Bonus Annual cash bonuses to compensate named executive officers for achieving short-term financial and operational goals (Net revenues and financial income, Income from operations, Total payment volume - adjusted, Competitive NPS) during the preceding fiscal year.
Executive compensation / annual bonus financial and operational goals · Filed 23/04/2026
As discussed in greater detail below in “Additional Governance Matters — Director Independence and Family Relationships” our board has determined that seven of the nine current members of our board are independent directors within the meaning of the listing standards of The NASDAQ Global Select Market (the “NASDAQ”) and our corporate governance guidelines.
Corporate governance / board independence determination · Filed 23/04/2026
Information as to the directors currently comprising each class of directors and the current term expiration date of each class of directors is set forth in the following table: Directors Currently Comprising Each Class Class Current Term Expiration Date Susan Segal Stelleo Passos Tolda Alejandro Nicolás Aguzin Class I 2026 Annual Meeting Nicolás Galperin Henrique Dubugras Richard Sanders Class II 2027 Annual Meeting Emiliano Calemzuk Marcos Galperin Martin Lawson Class III 2028 Annual Meeting At the recommendation of the nominating and corporate governance committee of our board, the board has nominated the following directors for election at the 2026 Annual Meeting: Director Nominee Class Expiration Date Susan Segal Stelleo Passos Tolda Alejandro Nicolás Aguzin Class I 2029 Annual Meeting A director elected to fill a vacancy will serve for the remainder of the term of the class of directors in which the vacancy occurred and until his or her successor is elected and qualified, or until his or her earlier death, resignation or removal.
Director elections / existing classified board structure · Filed 23/04/2026
The compensation committee establishes compensation levels for our chief executive officer on its own or in consultation with the compensation consultants it retains, if any, and our chief executive officer is not present during any of these discussions.
Executive compensation / CEO compensation decision process · Filed 23/04/2026
Our independent registered public accounting firm reports directly to the audit committee, and we limit the use of our auditors for non-audit services.
Auditor independence / reporting relationship and non-audit service limits · Filed 23/04/2026
(2) Fintech monthly active users is defined as Fintech payers and/or collectors that, during the last month of the reporting period, performed at least one of the following actions during such month: 1) made a debit or credit card payment, 2) made a QR code payment, 3) made an off-platform online payment using our checkout or link of payment solutions while logged in to our Mercado Pago fintech platform, 4) made an investment or employed any of our savings solutions, 5) has an active insurance policy, 6) has an outstanding loan up to date or non performing below 90 days, or 7) received the payment from a sale or transaction either on or off marketplace.
Key performance indicators / 2026 fintech active-user definition · Filed 06/08/2026
Fintech monthly active users is defined as Fintech payers and/or collectors as of December 31, 2025, that, during the last month of the reporting period, performed at least one of the following actions during such month: 1) made a debit or credit card payment, 2) made a QR code payment, 3) made an off-platform online payment using our checkout or link of payment solutions while logged in to our Mercado Pago fintech platform, 4) made an investment or employed any of our savings solutions, 5) purchased an insurance policy, 6) took out a loan through our lending solution, or 7) received the payment from a sale or transaction either on or off marketplace.
Key performance indicators / 2025 fintech active-user definition · Filed 25/02/2026
From the second quarter of 2025 onwards, we have included food delivery transactions in the current indicator.
Key performance indicators / food-delivery inclusion in buyer counts · Filed 06/08/2026
