Can you set the scene in 2018 when you joined? What was the context of the Mexican operations, and what was your initial mandate?

The financial dynamics of Mexico were maintained by significant investments supported by the cash flow from Brazil and Argentina. In the early years, the focus was on increasing market share. My main driver, the KPI I checked every morning, was the penetration of fulfillment. It was my obsession to increase our penetration as quickly as possible. This was the only way to compete against Amazon through superior service. Our delivery times were poor, with only 25% of orders delivered in less than 48 hours.

Can you set the scene in 2018 when you joined? What was the context of the Mexican operations, and what was your initial mandate?

As an investor in Mercado Libre, albeit a small one, I have noticed discussions around the impact of free shipping in Mexico and Brazil. I have faith in Ariel. They are not foolish. They did that because they know how to handle it. I am sure Mercado Libre saw clearly that they were going to squeeze their margins today to gain future benefits elsewhere. It will be offset by other parts of the company, probably Mercado Crédito.

Can you set the scene in 2018 when you joined? What was the context of the Mexican operations, and what was your initial mandate?

To have a big Mercado Crédito and a big Mercado Pago, you need a big Mercado Libre. It doesn't make sense for the company to split. Let me share another story I've seen and heard with Ariel and Marcos Galperin. Remember what happened with eBay? They let eBay struggle while PayPal thrived, and they split. Their main fear was splitting the companies. To have a really big one, you need to maintain economies of scale between them.