Mercado Libre, a major e-commerce company, announced a significant investment plan for Brazil. The company will invest R$34 billion in 2025, a 47.8% increase compared to 2023 and its largest investment in the Brazilian market to date. This brings the total investment in Brazil to R$113 billion over eight years, starting from R$1 billion in 2018.
The investment will be allocated to various areas:
A substantial portion will also fund job creation, with approximately 14,000 new jobs planned, bringing the total workforce in Brazil to over 50,000.
The Brazilian operation is crucial to Mercado Libre's global strategy. In 2024, it generated R$61.4 billion in revenue, representing 54.9% of the company's total revenue. This revenue includes R$37.7 billion from e-commerce (over 100 million unique buyers) and R$23.7 billion from Mercado Pago, the financial services arm (61 million monthly active users).
Mercado Pago, with a growing focus on credit, provided loans to over 22 million people. It is expected to be a significant recipient of the new hiring plan.
Mercado Libre's stock (traded on Nasdaq) closed down 2.53% on April 7, 2025, but saw a 3.64% increase in after-market trading. Year-to-date, the stock is up 5.5%, giving the company a market value of US$90.9 billion.