The President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva He publicly supported one of the largest private investments of the year in Brazil: that of the Argentine giant Free marketfounded and led by Marcos Galperín. The company announced that it will allocate 34,000 million reais (some 6,700 million dollars) to its operation in the country for 2025, 48% more than the previous year.
The announcement was made on Monday (7) by Fernando Yunes, president of the Brazilian Mercado Free operation, during a visit from Lula to the company’s distribution center in Cajamar (Gran São Paulo). Accompanied by ministers Fernando Haddad (hacienda) and Luiz Marinho (work), The president celebrated the expansion of a foreign company that today leads electronic commerce in Brazil and is consolidated as a key actor in logistics, digital credit and consumption.
According to Yunes, the operation will create 14,000 new jobs and will raise the total number of workers in the country to 50,000, more than double than in 2023. Only in 2024, 55% of the group’s total income came from the Brazilian marketwhich has become the economic engine of the Argentine Unicorn.
Mercado Libre will invest mainly in logistics, financial services, technology, loyalty programs and expansion of its distribution network. In fact, It plans to close the year with up to 27 operational logistics centers, extending its presence beyond the Brazilian southeast. Currently, 49% of orders arrive on the same day or the next, an indicator of the level of development achieved by their infrastructure in the country.
“We think in the long term. This is an extremely competitive market, with great national, international and especially Asian players,” said Yunes, who minimized the impact of possible protectionist measures such as those promoted by former US president Donald Trump.
Free market, which also controls the digital bank Payment market and units such as ADS market and market ships, already exceeds 100 million active buyers in the region. In 2024, he processed more than 1.8 billion products sold and reached a consolidated turnover of 123.6 billion reais. In addition to its logistics and technological expansion, the group sealed a 1,000 million reais agreement to acquire the Naming Rights of the Pacaembu stadium for 30 years, thus reinforcing its visibility of brand in Brazil.
Galperín’s decision to bet strongly for the Brazilian market contrasts with the most hostile scenario he faced during the government of Alberto Fernández in Argentina. In the years of everyone’s front, the businessman starred in public crosses with referents of the ruling partyas the social leader Juan recordoiswho accused Mercado free of “precarious” work through unconventional employment models. Galperín, meanwhile, openly criticized the economic direction of Kirchnerism and temporarily self -exiled in Uruguay.
Despite political tensions, Mercado Libre managed to sustain its leadership in Argentina, although with more moderate growth. Brazil, on the other hand, consolidated as its most dynamic place, both in sales volume and expansion capacity.
For Lula, megainversion not only implies employment creation and paying taxes (5,000 million reais in taxes in 2024), but also represents a Sign of trust in the Brazilian economy. Galperín strengthens with this play the central role of Brazil as the axis of its regional strategy at a time when large Latin American technology seek to consolidate against global competition.
By rn
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