Table of Contents

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 13, 2007

Registration No. 333-142880

 


SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 


Amendment No.1 to

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under

The Securities Act of 1933

 


MERCADOLIBRE, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)

 


 

Delaware   7389   98-0212790

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(Primary Standard Industrial

Classification Code Number)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification Number)

 


MercadoLibre, Inc.

Tronador 4890, 8 th Floor

Buenos Aires, C1430DNN, Argentina

011-54-11-5352-8000

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

United Corporate Services, Inc.

15 East North Street

Dover, Delaware 19901-3609

(914) 949-9188

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

 


Copies to:

 

John F. Haley, Esq.    Nicolás Szekasy    S. Todd Crider, Esq.
Edward W. Elmore, Jr., Esq.    MercadoLibre, Inc.    Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Hunton & Williams LLP    Tronador 4890, 8 th Floor    425 Lexington Avenue
1111 Brickell Avenue, Suite 2500    Buenos Aires, C1430DNN, Argentina    New York, New York 10017-3954
Miami, Florida 33131    011-54-11-5352-8000    (212) 455-2000
(305) 810-2500      

 


Approximate Date of Commencement of Proposed Sale to the Public:   As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.     ¨

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.     ¨

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.     ¨

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.     ¨

 


CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 


TITLE OF EACH CLASS OF

SECURITIES TO BE REGISTERED

  

PROPOSED

MAXIMUM AGGREGATE

OFFERING PRICE(1)(2)

  

AMOUNT OF

REGISTRATION FEE(3)

Common stock, par value $0.001 per share

   $ 332,797,716    $ 10,217

 

(1)   Estimated pursuant to Rule 457(o) solely for the purpose of calculating the amount of the registration fee.
(2)   Includes shares to be sold upon exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. See “Underwriting.”
(3)   $3,070 previously paid.

 


The Registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 



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The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities, and we are not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

Subject to completion, dated July 13, 2007

Prospectus

16,077,185 shares

LOGO

MERCADOLIBRE, INC.

Common stock

This is the initial public offering of our common stock. Of the shares of common stock to be sold in the offering, we are selling 2,608,696 shares and the selling stockholders identified in this prospectus are selling 13,468,489 shares. We will not receive any of the proceeds from the shares of common stock being sold by the selling stockholders. We expect the initial public offering price to be between $16.00 and $18.00 per share.

Prior to the offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. We have applied for listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “MELI.”

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed on the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

       Per share    Total

Initial public offering price

   $                 $             

Underwriting discount

   $      $  

Proceeds to MercadoLibre, Inc., before expenses

   $      $  

Proceeds to the selling stockholders, before expenses

   $      $  

We and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase from us and them an aggregate of up to 2,411,577 additional shares of our common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “ Risk factors ” beginning on page 10 to read about certain factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares on or about                     , 2007.

 

JPMorgan   Merrill Lynch & Co.

 


RBC CAPITAL MARKETS   Pacific Crest Securities

                    , 2007


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Table of contents

 

     Page

Prospectus summary

   1

Risk factors

   10

Forward-looking statements

   34

Use of proceeds

   35

Dividend policy

   35

Capitalization

   36

Dilution

   37

Selected financial and other data

   39

Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations

   42

The Latin American Internet industry

   66

Business

   69

Management

   100

Compensation discussion and analysis

   106

Principal stockholders

   114

Selling stockholders

   116

Certain relationships and related transactions

   119

Description of capital stock

   122

Shares eligible for future sale

   127

Certain United States tax consequences to non-U.S. holders

   129

Underwriting

   132

Legal matters

   139

Experts

   139

Additional information

   139

Index to financial statements

   F-1

 


You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. We and the underwriters have not authorized anyone to provide you with information that is different from or additional to, that contained in this prospectus. This prospectus may only be used where it is legal to sell our common stock. The information in this prospectus may only be accurate on the date of this prospectus.

We have not undertaken any efforts to qualify this offering for offers to individual investors in any jurisdiction outside the United States. Therefore, individual investors located outside the United States should not expect to be eligible to participate in this offering.

 


Definitions .    Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “we,” “us,” “our” and “company” refer to MercadoLibre, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. References in this prospectus to “$” or “U.S.$” are to U.S. dollars.

Brands.    MercadoLibre and MercadoPago are brands that belong to us. This prospectus also includes trademarks, trade names and trade dress of other companies. Use or display by us of other parties’ trademarks, trade names or trade dress or products is not intended to and does not imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, the trademark, trade name or trade dress owners. Solely for the convenience of the reader, we refer to our brands in this

 

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prospectus without the ® symbol, but these references are not intended to indicate in any way that we will not assert our rights to these brands to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Market position.     We make statements in this prospectus about our competitive position and market share in, and the market size of, the Internet and e-commerce industries in certain Latin American countries. Market data and other statistical information used throughout this prospectus are based on independent industry publications, government publications, reports by market research firms and other published independent sources that we believe are reliable. Some data are also based on our estimates, which are derived from our review of internal surveys and independent sources. We have made these statements on the basis of statistics and other information from third-party sources that we believe are reliable. Although we have no reason to believe that any of this information or these reports are inaccurate in any material respect, neither we nor the selling stockholders, nor the underwriters have independently verified the competitive position, market share and market size or market growth data provided by third parties or by industry or general publications. None of the publications, reports, or other published industry sources referred to in this prospectus were commissioned by us or prepared at our request, and we have not sought or obtained the consent of any of these sources to include such market data in this prospectus.

Rounding.     Certain figures included in this prospectus have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, figures shown as totals in certain tables may not be an arithmetic aggregation of the figures that precede them.

 

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Prospectus summary

This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary is not complete and does not contain all of the information you should consider before investing in our common stock. You should read the entire prospectus carefully before investing in our common stock, especially the risks of investing in our common stock discussed under “Risk factors” and our consolidated financial statements and their related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The company

We host the largest online trading platform in Latin America, called MercadoLibre and located at www.mercadolibre.com. We are market leaders in e-commerce in each of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, based on unique visitors and page views during 2006. Additionally, we have recently launched online trading platforms in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama. With a market of over 550 million people and a region with one of the world’s fastest-growing Internet penetration rates, we provide buyers and sellers a robust online trading environment that fosters the development of a large and growing e-commerce community. We offer a technological and commercial solution that addresses the distinctive cultural and geographic challenges of operating an online trading platform in Latin America.

We offer our users two principal services:

 

 

The MercadoLibre marketplace :    The MercadoLibre marketplace is a fully-automated, topically-arranged and user-friendly online trading service. This service permits both businesses and individuals to list items and conduct their sales and purchases online in either a fixed-price or auction-based format. Additionally, through online classified advertisements, our registered users can also list and purchase motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, real estate and services. Any Internet user can browse through the various products and services that are listed on our website and register with MercadoLibre to list, bid for and purchase items and services.

 

 

The MercadoPago online payments solution :    To complement the MercadoLibre marketplace, we developed MercadoPago, an integrated online payments solution. MercadoPago is designed to facilitate transactions on the MercadoLibre marketplace by providing a mechanism that allows our users to securely, easily and promptly send and receive payments online.

During the three months ended March 31, 2007, visitors to our website were able to browse an average of over 2.9 million total listings per month, organized by country, in over 2,000 different product categories. We believe that we have achieved a critical mass of active buyers, sellers and product listings in most of the countries where we operate and that our business can be readily scaled to handle increases in our user base and transaction volume. At March 31, 2007, we had 19.7 million confirmed registered MercadoLibre users. For 2006, we had 1.7 million unique sellers, 4.4 million unique buyers and 13.8 million successful items sold. During the three months ended March 31, 2007, we had 0.6 million unique sellers, 1.7 million unique buyers and 3.9 million successful items sold.

 

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We generate revenues from the MercadoLibre marketplace from listing fees, optional feature fees, final value fees and online advertising, and from MercadoPago from commissions for use of the service.

We achieved gross merchandise volume (which is a measure of the total value of goods and services bought and sold on the MercadoLibre marketplace excluding motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate) of $1,075.1 million in 2006, an increase of approximately 76.9% compared to 2005. For the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, our gross merchandise volume was $217.8 million and $312.5 million, respectively, which represented an increase of 43.5%. Since we commenced operations in 1999, we have consistently generated higher annual revenues over the prior year, and since 2005 we have generated positive net income and cash from operations. For 2006, we recognized net revenues of $52.1 million, which represented a compounded annual growth rate of 102.8% from 2004 to 2006. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, our net revenues were $16.5 million, which represented an increase of 49.8% compared to the same period in 2006. For 2006, our net income was approximately $1.1 million. The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, some of our principal consolidated financial and operational indicators:

 

     Year ended December 31,    Three months ended
March 31,

(in millions)

   2004     2005    2006   

2006

(unaudited)

  

2007

(unaudited)

Net revenues

   $ 12.7     $ 28.2    $ 52.1    $ 11.0    $ 16.5

Income (loss) from operations

   $ (3.3 )   $ 0.8    $ 5.4    $ 0.8    $ 2.9

Net income (loss)

   $ (2.2 )   $ 2.4    $ 1.1    $ 0.1    $ 1.0

Gross merchandise volume(1)

   $ 299.3     $ 607.7    $ 1,075.1    $ 217.8    $ 312.5

Number of successful items sold(2)

     5.1       8.4      13.8      2.8      3.9

Total payment volume(3)

   $ 8.9     $ 38.5    $ 89.0    $ 16.5    $ 26.6

 

(1)   Measure of the total U.S. dollar sum of all transactions completed through the MercadoLibre marketplace, excluding motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate.

 

(2)   Measure of the number of items that were sold through the MercadoLibre marketplace.

 

(3)   Measure of the total U.S. dollar sum of all transactions paid for using MercadoPago.

On November 10, 2005, we acquired certain operations of a regional competitor in online trading, DeRemate.com Inc., including all of its operations in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. See “Business—History of MercadoLibre” for more information.

Market opportunity

We provide services to a region with one of the world’s fastest growing Internet penetration rates. We were one of the initial entrants into the Latin American e-commerce market. The region, which consists of South America, Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico, is home to over 550 million people, or approximately 8.5% of the world’s population. The International Monetary Fund estimates that Latin America’s combined annual gross domestic product in 2006 was greater than $2.9 trillion. Based on information released by InternetWorldStats.com, estimates for Internet penetration in Latin America at May 7, 2007 range from a high of 42.4% for Chile to 17.2% for Brazil and 6.5% for Panama with an average penetration of approximately 18.4%. Between the end of 2000 and May 7, 2007, InternetWorldStats.com estimates that Latin America’s Internet user base increased approximately 466.2% with a compounded annual growth rate of 30.9%.

 

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We believe that the Latin American market presents a significant opportunity for an Internet-based marketplace provider. E-commerce platforms offer advantages of scale, information availability and accessibility to markets, which address many of the inefficiencies associated with traditional offline trading in Latin America, such as limited access to information, high number of parties in distribution chains, limited inventory, and obstacles to efficient communication and interaction between market participants.

Competitive strengths

We believe the following characteristics give us a competitive advantage in realizing the potential of our market opportunity:

 

 

We have a strong brand and are one of the leaders in the Latin American e-commerce market .    We were one of the initial entrants in the Latin American e-commerce market, and we host the leading online trading platform in the region based on unique visitors and page views. We have built strong brand awareness and a growing online community that provides our users with the advantages of a sizable network with a large number of participants in a single marketplace. In some countries, we operate the only large-scale online trading platform that covers a wide range of product and service categories.

 

 

We operate a proven business model .    Business models similar to ours have been successfully implemented in many countries around the world, most notably by one of our stockholders, eBay Inc., or eBay. We have had the advantage of working closely with eBay in exchanging industry best practices and developing and improving our services and strategy.

 

 

Our business model offers significant economies of scale .    Since we started operations in 1999, we have shown significant revenue growth from year to year. Our business model has substantial operating leverage because a significant portion of our costs are fixed, such that increases in revenues have resulted in higher margins year after year. From 2004 to 2006, our annual revenues increased from $12.7 million to $52.1 million, a 311.1% increase, while total costs and operating expenses grew from $16.0 million to $46.7 million, a 191.4% increase.

 

 

Our product range and information is extensive .    We offer our customers one of the broadest selections of products and product categories among e-commerce sites in Latin America. Our sites offer on average over 2.9 million total listings per month from a selection of over 2,000 different product categories. Our product selection ranges from traditional e-commerce items such as books, music, videos, electronics, computers, hardware, cameras and cellular telephones, to industrial goods and services, to real estate and contractor services. Our website offers an efficient shopping experience with extensive information, ratings and reviews on listed products.

 

 

We provide creative and innovative solutions .    We have developed creative and innovative solutions to the challenges of conducting e-commerce in Latin America. For example, in addition to offering sellers an auction-based format to sell an item, the MercadoLibre marketplace also offers a fixed-price alternative to respond to the current preferences in the region for fixed-price listings. In order to address the specific needs of buyers and sellers of motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, real estate and certain services, items for which buyers will typically require a physical inspection or specific types of interaction, we offer our users an online classified advertisements service that is dedicated to these items. To complement the

 

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MercadoLibre marketplace by providing an end-to-end service that facilitates the completion of transactions online, we have developed MercadoPago, which operates as an escrow service that allows our users to make and receive payments efficiently and securely online. In order to meet the demand for product information by potential purchasers, we have launched product content sections on our platform that encourage user ratings and product reviews, and provide product catalogues and purchasing guides. To improve the efficiency of our MercadoLibre marketplace, we launched a relevance-based algorithm to sort listings, which provides users with a superior buying experience by matching supply and demand.

 

 

We have acquired considerable local market expertise .    As one of the first Internet trading platforms in the countries where we operate, we have developed an understanding of the needs and preferences of our users and customers. We have historically used this expertise to develop services and products that cater to the unique needs of Latin American e-commerce clients.

 

 

We have an experienced and highly qualified team .    We are led by a team of highly qualified management and information technology professionals who run our business and websites from our offices in Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Mexico City, Caracas, Santiago and Bogotá. Our ten most senior management officers and our four most senior technology professionals joined our team in 2000 or before, which provides us with stable and seasoned leadership. The commitment, knowledge and track record of both our management and technology teams are valuable assets to our company. We believe that our corporate culture contributes to the high level of satisfaction of our employees and to the retention and commitment of our team.

Business strategy

We seek to serve people in Latin America by offering an online marketplace that can improve the quality of life of those who use it, while creating significant value for our stockholders. We serve our buyers by giving them access to a broader and more affordable variety of products and services than those available on other online and offline venues. We serve our sellers by allowing them to reach a larger and more geographically diverse user base at a lower overall cost and investment than offline venues, which enables them to build businesses. More broadly, we strive to turn inefficient markets into more efficient ones and in that process we generate value. To achieve these objectives, we apply the following strategies:

 

 

Continue to grow our business and maintain market leadership .    We have focused and intend to continue to focus on growing our business by strengthening our position as the preferred online marketplace in each of the countries in which we operate. We also intend to grow our business and maintain our leadership by taking advantage of the expanding potential client base that has resulted from the growth of Internet penetration rates in Latin America. We intend to achieve these goals through organic growth, by entering into new countries and category segments, and, when possible and advantageous, through potential strategic acquisitions of key businesses and assets.

 

 

Increase monetization of our transactions .    We have focused and will continue to focus on improving the revenue generation capacity of our business by implementing initiatives designed to maximize the revenues we receive from transactions on our platform. Some of these initiatives include increasing our fee structure, introducing listing fees in the countries

 

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where we do not currently charge them, and selling advertising and Internet marketing services on our platform. Additionally, we intend to take advantage of the natural synergies that exist between our marketplace and payments service by promoting increased use of MercadoPago so that it becomes the preferred online payment method on and off our platform.

 

 

Enhance brand awareness .    We believe that enhancing awareness of the MercadoLibre brand is important to achieve our business objectives. We intend to continue to promote, advertise and increase recognition of our brand through a variety of marketing and promotional campaigns. These may include marketing agreements with companies with significant online presence and advertising through traditional media, such as cable television. We may also use leading websites and other media such as affiliate programs, banner advertisements and keyword searches. In addition, by enhancing our e-commerce community experience, we believe we will promote brand awareness through word of mouth.

 

 

Focus on user loyalty and website enhancement .    We will continue to focus on increasing purchase frequency and transaction volumes from our existing users. We intend to do so by maintaining an appealing and convenient platform for e-commerce, improving the functionality of our website to deliver a more efficient user experience and providing our users with the help of a dedicated customer support department. We employ a number of programs aimed at fostering customer loyalty and repeated purchases, such as our MercadoLider loyalty program for high-volume sellers, our targeted and segmented direct marketing program, and MercadoPago special promotions awarding interest-free installments.

 

 

Increase operational efficiency .    We believe that our business model is an advantage in competing with traditional online and off-line retailers as we do not require a physical showroom or storage locations and do not actually process the orders. We plan to maximize this advantage by achieving economies of scale, maintaining controls on overhead costs and reducing variable costs whenever possible.

 

 

Continue to develop innovative and creative solutions .    We intend to continually enhance our trading platform in order to better serve both individuals and businesses that want to buy or sell goods and services online. We intend to continue investing to develop new tools and technologies that facilitate e-commerce on our platform and improve our users’ online experience on MercadoLibre, while addressing the distinctive cultural, geographical and other challenges of online trading in Latin America.

 

 

Serve our dynamic and active user community .    We seek to operate MercadoLibre as an open and trusted Web-based marketplace where users can access a broad market of products. We believe in treating our users with respect by applying a consistent set of policies that reinforce good online and offline behavior within our user community. We also seek to offer superior customer care in order to maintain the loyalty and satisfaction of our active user base.

 


We are a Delaware corporation incorporated on October 15, 1999. Our registered office is located at 15 East North Street, Dover, Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at Tronador 4890, 8 th floor, Buenos Aires, Argentina, C1430DNN. Our telephone number is +54 11 5352-8000 and our website is located at www.mercadolibre.com. Information contained on our website shall not constitute, or be deemed incorporated as, a part of this prospectus.

 

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The offering

 

Issuer

MercadoLibre, Inc.

 

Common stock offered by us

2,608,696 shares.

 

Common stock offered by the selling stockholders

13,468,489 shares.

 

Common stock to be outstanding after this offering

43,835,263 shares (or 44,226,567 if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase 391,304 additional shares to cover over-allotments if any.)(1)

 

Offering price

We expect the initial public offering price to be between $16.00 and $18.00 per share.

 

Over-allotment option

We and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase from us and them an aggregate of up to 2,411,577 additional shares of our common stock to cover any over-allotments.

 

Use of proceeds

We expect to receive net proceeds from the sale of our common stock in this offering, after deducting the underwriting discount and other estimated expenses, of approximately $40.6 million (or $47.0 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase 391,304 additional shares to cover over-allotments if any.) We intend to use the net proceeds of this offering to repay approximately $9.3 million outstanding on a loan from eBay and the remainder for general corporate purposes.

We will not receive any of the sales proceeds associated with common stock offered by the selling stockholders.

See “Use of proceeds” and “Certain relationships and related transactions.”

 

Dividend policy

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. See “Dividend policy” and “Description of capital stock.”

 

Voting rights

Holders of our common stock will be entitled to one vote per share on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders.

 

Proposed Nasdaq Global Market symbol

We have applied for listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the trading symbol “MELI.”

 

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Lock-up agreements

In connection with this offering, we, the selling stockholders, our directors, executive officers and certain other stockholders will enter into lock-up agreements with the underwriters of this offering under which neither we nor they may, for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus, directly or indirectly sell, dispose of or hedge any shares of common stock or any securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of common stock without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated on behalf of the underwriters. See “Underwriting” for more information regarding lock-up agreements.

 

Certain relationships and related transactions

Please read “Certain relationships and related transactions” for a discussion of business relationships between us and related parties and “Underwriting” for information regarding relationships between us and the underwriters.

 

Risk factors

You should carefully read and consider the information set forth under “Risk factors” and all other information set forth in this prospectus before investing in our common stock.


(1)   Unless otherwise indicated, all information contained in this prospectus assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase from us up to 391,304 additional common shares and from the selling stockholders up to 2,020,273 additional common shares to cover over-allotments, if any, and that the common stock to be sold in this offering is sold at $17.00, which is the midpoint of the range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus.

 

     Unless otherwise indicated, all information in this prospectus reflects the conversion of all outstanding shares of preferred stock and different classes of our common stock into one class of common stock upon completion of this offering. See “Description of capital stock.”

 

     Except as otherwise noted, the number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering excludes 149,111 shares reserved for future issuance upon exercise of outstanding options and 296,437 shares available for future awards under our stock option plan. See “Compensation discussion and analysis—Our stock and stock option plans” and note 11 to our consolidated financial statements.

 

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Summary financial and other data

The following summary financial data at December 31, 2005 and 2006 and for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2005 and 2006 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements and their related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. The following summary financial data at December 31, 2004 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements for that year, which are not included in this prospectus. The following summary financial data at March 31, 2007 and for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 have been derived from our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. These statements include all normal recurring adjustments that management believes are necessary to fairly present our financial position, operating results and cash flows. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2007 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ended December 31, 2007 or for any other period.

The following summary financial and other data is qualified by reference to and should be read in conjunction with “Capitalization,” “Selected financial and other data,” “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

     Year ended
December 31,
    Three months ended
March 31,
 

(in millions)

   2004     2005     2006    

2006

(unaudited)

   

2007

(unaudited)

 

Statement of operations data:

          

Net revenues

   $ 12.7     $ 28.2     $ 52.1     $ 11.0     $ 16.5  

Cost of net revenues

     (2.5 )     (6.1 )     (12.1 )     (2.5 )     (3.6 )
                                        

Gross profit

     10.2       22.1       40.0       8.5       12.9  
                                        

Operating expenses:

          

Product and technology development

     (1.3 )     (2.2 )     (3.1 )     (0.7 )     (1.0 )

Sales and marketing

     (9.1 )     (14.7 )     (23.4 )     (5.1 )     (6.3 )

General and administrative

     (3.1 )     (4.4 )     (8.2 )     (1.9 )     (2.7 )
                                        

Total operating expenses

     (13.5 )     (21.3 )     (34.6 )     (7.7 )     (10.0 )
                                        

Income (loss) from operations

     (3.3 )     0.8       5.4       0.8       2.9  
                                        

Net income (loss)

   $ (2.2 )   $ 2.4     $ 1.1     $ 0.1     $ 1.0  

 

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     At December 31,     At March 31,  

(in millions, except share data)

   2004     2005     2006    

2007

(unaudited)

 

Balance sheet data:

        

Total assets

   $ 24.1     $ 44.4     $ 53.8     57.2  

Total liabilities

     5.1       23.2       30.5     32.2  

Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

     63.1       63.6       64.1     64.2  

Total stockholders’ deficit

     (44.1 )     (42.4 )     (40.7 )   (39.2 )

Earnings (loss) per share data:

        

Basic net income (loss) available to common stockholders per common share

     (0.21 )     0.05       0.01     0.02  

Diluted net income (loss) per common share

           0.05            

Weighted average shares:

        

Basic

     12,739,980       13,065,496       13,149,139     13,375,482  

Diluted

           13,671,359            

 

     Year ended December 31,   

Three months
ended March 31,

(in millions)    2004    2005    2006    2006    2007

Other data:

              

Number of confirmed registered users at end of period(1)

     6.5      12.2      18.2      13.5      19.7

Number of confirmed new registered users during period(2)

     2.5      5.7      6.0      1.3      1.6

Gross merchandise volume(3)

   $ 299.3    $ 607.7    $ 1,075.1    $ 217.8    $ 312.5

Number of successful items sold(4)

     5.1      8.4      13.8      2.8      3.9

Total payment volume(5)

   $ 8.9    $ 38.5    $ 89.0    $ 16.5    $ 26.6

Capital expenditures

   $ 2.1    $ 2.0    $ 2.4    $ 0.6    $ 0.6

Depreciation and amortization

   $ 1.1    $ 1.6    $ 2.0    $ 0.5    $ 0.5

 

(1)   Measure of the cumulative number of users who have registered on the MercadoLibre marketplace and confirmed their registration.

 

(2)   Measure of the number of new users who have registered on the MercadoLibre marketplace and confirmed their registration.

 

(3)   Measure of the total U.S. dollar sum of all transactions completed through the MercadoLibre marketplace, excluding motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate.

 

(4)   Measure of the number of items that were sold through the MercadoLibre marketplace.

 

(5)   Measure of total U.S. dollar sum of all transactions paid for using MercadoPago.

 

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Risk factors

An investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. In addition to the other information in this prospectus, you should carefully consider the following risk factors in evaluating us and our business before purchasing our common stock. If any of the risks discussed in this prospectus actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. If this were to occur, the value of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment. In connection with the forward-looking cautionary statements that appear in this prospectus, you should also carefully review the cautionary statement referred to under “Forward-looking statements.”

Risks related to our business

The market for the sale of goods over the Internet is developing in Latin America, and our business depends on the continued growth of online commerce, and the availability and suitability of the Internet in Latin America.

The market for the sale of goods over the Internet is a new and emerging market in Latin America. Our future revenues depend substantially on Latin American consumers’ widespread acceptance and use of the Internet as a way to conduct commerce. Rapid growth in the use of and interest in the Internet (particularly as a way to conduct commerce) is a recent phenomenon, and we cannot assure you that this acceptance and use will continue to exist or develop. For us to grow our user base successfully, consumers who have historically used traditional means of commerce to purchase goods must accept and use new ways of conducting business and exchanging information. Furthermore, the price of personal computers and Internet access may limit our potential growth in countries with low levels of Internet penetration and/or high levels of poverty.

In addition, the Internet may not be commercially viable in Latin America in the long term for a number of reasons, including potentially inadequate development of the necessary network infrastructure or delayed development of enabling technologies, performance improvements and security measures. We cannot assure you that the infrastructure for the Internet will be able to support continued growth in the number of Internet users, their frequency of use or their bandwidth requirements. In addition, the Internet could lose its viability due to delays in telecommunications technological developments, or due to increased government regulation. If telecommunications services change or are not sufficiently available to support the Internet, response times would be slower, which would adversely affect use of the Internet and our service in particular.

Our future success depends on our ability to expand and adapt our operations to meet rapidly changing industry and technology standards in a cost-effective and timely manner, and on the continued market acceptance of our products and services.

We plan to expand our operations by developing and promoting new and complementary services. We cannot assure you that we will be able to expand our operations in a cost-effective or timely manner or that any of our expansion efforts would have the same or greater overall market acceptance as our current services. Furthermore, any new business or service that we launch that is not favorably received by consumers could damage our reputation and diminish the value of our brand name. To expand our operations we will also need to spend significant amounts in development, operations and other resources, and we would place strain on our

 

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management, financial and operational resources. Similarly, a lack of market acceptance of these services or our inability to generate satisfactory revenues from any expanded services to offset their cost could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Internet regulation in the countries where we operate is scarce, and several legal issues related to the Internet are uncertain. We are subject to a number of other laws and regulations, and governments may enact laws or regulations which could adversely affect our business.

Unlike the United States, none of the countries where we operate have specific laws governing the liability of Internet service providers, such as ourselves, for fraud, intellectual property infringement, other illegal activities committed by individual users or third-party infringing content hosted on a provider’s servers. This legal uncertainty allows for different judges or courts to decide very similar claims in different ways and establish contradictory jurisprudence. Certain judges may decide that Internet service providers are liable to an intellectual property owner for a user’s sale of counterfeit items using our platform, while others may decide that the responsibility lies solely with the offending user. This legal uncertainty allows for rulings against us and could set adverse precedents, which individually or in the aggregate could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition. In addition, legal uncertainty may negatively affect our clients’ perception and use of our services.

We are not currently subject to direct government regulation in most of the countries where we operate, other than those regulations applicable to businesses in general. It is not clear how existing laws governing issues such as general commercial activities, property ownership, copyrights and other intellectual property issues, taxation, libel and defamation, obscenity, and personal privacy apply to online businesses. The majority of these laws were adopted before the Internet was available and, as a result, do not contemplate or address the unique issues of the Internet. Due to these areas of legal uncertainty, and the increasing popularity and use of the Internet and other online services, it is possible that new laws and regulations are adopted with respect to the Internet or other online services. These laws and regulations could cover issues such as online commerce, Internet service providers’ responsibility for third party content hosted in their servers, user privacy, freedom of expression, pricing, content and quality of products and services, taxation (including imposition of value added or sales taxes collection obligations), advertising, intellectual property rights, consumer protection and information security. If these laws are enacted they may have negative effects on our business, results of operation and financial condition.

As our activities and the types of goods listed on our website grow, regulatory agencies or courts may argue or rule that we or our users must either obtain licenses or not be allowed to conduct business in their jurisdiction, either with respect to our services in general or only relating to certain items, such as auctions, real estate and motor vehicles. For example, numerous jurisdictions, including Brazil and Argentina, have regulations regarding “auctions” and “auctioneers” and the handling of property by “secondhand dealers” or “pawnbrokers.” Attempted enforcement of these laws against us or our users and other regulatory and licensing claims could result in expensive litigation or could require us to change the way we or our users do business. Any changes in our or our users’ business methods could increase costs or reduce revenues or force us to prohibit listings of certain items for some locations. We could also be subject to fines or other penalties, and any of these outcomes could harm our business.

 

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In addition, because our services are accessible worldwide and we facilitate sales of goods to users worldwide, other foreign jurisdictions may claim that we are required to comply with their laws. As we expand and localize our international activities, we have to comply with the laws of the countries in which we operate. Laws regulating Internet companies outside of the Latin American jurisdictions where we operate may be more restrictive to us than those in Latin America. In order to comply with these laws we may have to change our business practices or restrict our services. We could be subject to penalties ranging from criminal prosecution to bans on our services for failure to comply with foreign laws.

We are subject to laws relating to the use, storage and transfer of personally identifiable information about our users, especially financial information. Several jurisdictions have passed new laws in this area, and other jurisdictions are considering imposing additional restrictions. If we violate these laws, which in many cases apply not only to third-party transactions but also to transfers of information among ourselves, our subsidiaries, and other parties with which we have commercial relations, we could be subject to significant penalties and negative publicity, which would adversely affect us.

Our business is an Internet platform for commercial transactions in which all commercial activity depends on our users and is therefore largely outside of our control.

Our business is dependent on Internet users listing and purchasing their items and services on our Internet platform. Therefore, we depend on the commercial activity, including both sales and purchases, that our users generate. We do not choose which items will be listed, nor do we make pricing or other decisions relating to the products and services bought and sold on our platform. Therefore, the principal drivers of our business are largely outside of our control, and we depend on the continued preference for our platform of millions of individual users.

We could face liability for the sale of regulated and prohibited items, unpaid items or undelivered purchases, and the sale of defective items.

Laws specifying the scope of liability of providers of online services for activities of their users through their service are currently unsettled in the Latin American countries where we operate. Even though we have implemented clear policies that are written into our terms of use that prohibit the sale of certain items on our platform and have implemented programs to monitor and exclude unlawful goods and services, we may be unable to prevent our users from exchanging unlawful goods or services or exchanging goods in an unlawful manner, and we may be subject to allegations of civil or criminal liability for the unlawful activities of these users.

More specifically, we are aware that certain goods, such as alcohol, tobacco, firearms, adult material and other goods that may be subject to regulation by local or national authorities of various jurisdictions have been traded on the MercadoLibre marketplace. As a consequence of these transactions, we have at times been subject to fines in Brazil for certain users’ sale of products that have not been approved by the government. We cannot assure that we will successfully avoid civil or criminal liability for unlawful activities that our users carry out through our service in the future. If we suffer potential liability for any unlawful activities of our users, we may need to implement additional measures to reduce our exposure to this liability, which may require, among other things, that we spend substantial resources and/or discontinue certain service offerings. Any costs that we incur as a result of this liability or asserted liability could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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We believe that government and consumer protection agencies have received a substantial number of complaints about both the MercadoLibre marketplace and MercadoPago. We believe that these complaints are small as a percentage of our total transactions, but they could become large in aggregate numbers over time. In fact, various governmental regulatory agencies have already contacted us from time to time with questions about our operations and may continue to do so. If during these inquiries any of our processes are found to violate laws on consumer protection, or to constitute unfair business practices, we could be subject to an enforcement action, fines or penalties. Such actions or fines could require us to restructure our business processes in ways that would harm our business, and to incur substantial costs.

In addition, our success depends largely upon sellers accurately representing and reliably delivering the listed goods and buyers paying the agreed purchase price. We have received in the past, and anticipate that we will receive in the future, complaints from users who did not receive the purchase price or the goods agreed to be exchanged. While we can suspend the accounts of users who fail to fulfill their delivery obligations to other users, we do not have the ability to require users to make payments or deliver goods sold. We also receive complaints from buyers regarding the quality of the goods purchased or the partial or non-delivery of purchased items. We have tried to reduce our liability to buyers for unfulfilled transactions or other claims related to the quality of the purchased goods by offering a free Buyer Protection program to buyers who meet certain conditions. Although the number of claims that we have paid through this program is not currently significant, and the average claimed transaction size during 2006 is approximately $77 (excluding motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate), we may in the future receive additional requests from users requesting reimbursement or threatening legal action against us if we do not reimburse them.

Any resulting litigation related to unpaid or undelivered purchases could be expensive for us, divert management’s attention and could result in increased costs of doing business. In addition, any negative publicity generated as a result of the fraudulent or deceptive conduct of our users could damage our reputation and diminish the value of our brand name.

We could potentially face legal and financial liability for the sale of items that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others and for information disseminated on the MercadoLibre marketplace.

Even though we monitor listings on our websites, we are not able to detect every item that may infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties. As a result, we have received in the past, and anticipate that we will receive in the future, complaints alleging that certain items sold through the MercadoLibre marketplace infringe third-party copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights. Content owners and other intellectual property rights owners have been active in defending their rights against online companies, including us. We have taken steps to work in coordination and cooperation with the intellectual property rights owners to eliminate allegedly infringing items listed in the MercadoLibre marketplace. Our user policy prohibits the sale of goods which may infringe third-party intellectual property rights, and we suspend the account of any user who infringes third-party intellectual property rights. Despite all these measures, an allegation of infringement could result in litigation against us.

Specifically, allegations of infringement of intellectual property rights have already resulted in claims against us from time to time, including litigation in Brazil brought by Cartier International B.V., Montblanc Simplo Gmbh, Richemont International S.A., Puma Sports Ltda., Lacoste do Brasil Indústria e Comércio Ltda., Sporloisirs S.A., Qix Skateboards Indústria e Comércio Ltda, Vintage

 

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Denim Ltda., Editora COC Empreendimentos Culturais Ltda., Barros Fischer e Associados Ltda., Fallms Distribuição de Fitas Ltda., 100% Nacional Distribuidora de Fitas Ltda. and Xuxa Promoções e Produções Artísticas Ltda. While we have been largely successful to date in settling existing claims by agreeing to monitor the brands and have not paid any damages, the current lack of laws regarding the Internet results in great uncertainty as to the outcome of any future claims. We continue to have outstanding litigation and, although we intend to defend each of these claims, we cannot assure you that we will be successful. This type of litigation is expensive for us, could result in damage awards or increased costs of doing business through adverse judgments or settlements, could require us to change our business practices in expensive ways, or could otherwise harm our business. Litigation against other online companies could result in interpretations of the law that could also require us to change our business practices or otherwise increase our costs.

Additionally, if the public perception were that counterfeit items are commonplace on our site, it could damage our reputation and our business.

It is also possible that third parties could bring claims against online services companies for defamation, libel, invasion of privacy, negligence, or other theories based on the nature and content of the materials disseminated through their services. Other online services companies are facing several private lawsuits for this type of liability. As mentioned previously, the liability of online services companies for content hosted, information carried on or disseminated through their services is currently unclear in the Latin American countries where we operate. This could allow for claims being made against us by purportedly aggrieved third parties. For example, the MercadoLibre service contains a User Feedback feature, which includes reviews and ratings from users regarding the reliability of other users in paying or delivering goods sold in a transaction promptly. Although users generate all the feedback, it is possible that a party could bring a claim for defamation or other injury against us for content posted through the User Feedback feature. If we or other online services providers are held liable or potentially liable for information carried on or disseminated through our services, we may have to implement measures to reduce our exposure to this liability. Any measures we may need to implement may involve spending substantial resources and/or to discontinuing certain services. Any such costs that we incur as a result of liability or asserted liability could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, attention to liability issues, lawsuits and legislative proposals could impact the growth of Internet use, and subsequently have a negative impact on our business results.

We have only recently achieved profitability in a new and rapidly evolving market, and we cannot assure you that we will continue to be profitable.

We were incorporated in Delaware in October of 1999 and commenced operations in Argentina in August of 1999, in Brazil in October of 1999, in Mexico in November of 1999 and in Uruguay in December of 1999. Our operations in the remaining Latin American countries where we operate have all been launched after January of 2000, including our launch in Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic as recently as December of 2006. Our net income and cash flow from operations were negative from the time we commenced operations in 1999 until 2004. Accordingly, we have a limited history of profits and positive cash flow operations on which to base an evaluation of our business and prospects. You must consider our prospects in light of the risks, uncertainties, expenses and difficulties that companies in their early stages of development frequently encounter, particularly companies in new and rapidly evolving markets such as online commerce. Because our business has evolved rapidly and we have a limited operating history, and

 

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an even more limited history of profit and positive cash flow, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our operating results are not necessarily meaningful and you should not rely on them as indications of future performance.

Furthermore, as a result of our limited operating history, the emerging nature of the markets in which we compete, the increased variety of services offered on our website and the rapidly evolving nature of our business, it is particularly difficult for us to forecast our revenues or earnings accurately. In addition, we have no backlog and substantially all of our net revenues for each quarter are derived from listing fees, optional feature fees, final value fees, commissions on MercadoPago payments and advertising that are earned during that quarter. Our current and future expense levels are based largely on our investment plans and estimates of future revenues and are, to a large extent, fixed. We may not be able to adjust spending in a timely manner to compensate for any unexpected revenue shortfall. Accordingly, any significant shortfall in revenues relative to our planned expenditures would have an immediate adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we continue to grow, we may not be able to appropriately manage the increased size of our business.

We are currently experiencing a period of significant expansion and anticipate that further expansion will be required to address potential growth in our customer base and market opportunities. This expansion has placed, and is expected to continue to place, a significant strain on management, and our operational and financial resources.

We must constantly add new hardware, update software, enhance and improve our billing and transaction systems, and add and train new engineering and other personnel to accommodate the increased use of our website and the new products and features we regularly introduce. This upgrade process is expensive, and the increasing complexity and enhancement of our website results in higher costs. Failure to upgrade our technology, features, transaction processing systems, security infrastructure, or network infrastructure to accommodate increased traffic or transaction volume could harm our business. Adverse consequences could include unanticipated system disruptions, slower response times, degradation in levels of customer support, impaired quality of users’ experiences of our services and delays in reporting accurate financial information.

Our revenues depend on prompt and accurate billing processes. Our failure to grow our transaction-processing capabilities to accommodate the increasing number of transactions that must be billed on our website would harm our business and our ability to collect revenue.

Furthermore, we may need to enter into relationships with various strategic partners, websites and other online service providers and other third parties necessary to our business. The increased complexity of managing multiple commercial relationships could lead to execution problems that can affect current and future revenues, and operating margins.

We cannot assure you that our current and planned systems, procedures and controls, personnel and third party relationships will be adequate to support our future operations. Our failure to manage growth effectively could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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Our systems may fail or suffer interruptions due to human acts, technical problems, or natural disasters.

Our success, and in particular our ability to facilitate trades successfully and provide high quality customer service, depends on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of our computer and communications hardware systems. Substantially all of our computer hardware for operating the MercadoLibre marketplace and MercadoPago services is currently located at the facilities of the Savvis Datacenter in Sterling, Virginia, with a redundant database backup in Miami, Florida. These systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, computer viruses, telecommunication failures, physical or electronic break-ins, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism, terrorism, and similar events. If our system suffers a major failure, it would take as much as several days to get the service running again because our Miami database is only a backup with very limited hardware. We also have no formal disaster recovery plan or alternative providers of hosting services and do not carry business interruption insurance to compensate us for losses that may occur. Despite any precautions we have taken and plan to take, if there is a natural disaster or major failure, a decision by our providers to close one of the facilities we use without adequate notice, or other unanticipated problem at the Virginia or Florida facilities, the services we provide could suffer interruptions. We currently have no plans to upgrade the Florida facility capabilities. Additionally, in the occurrence of such pronounced, frequent or persistent system failures, our reputation and name brand could be materially adversely affected.

We are subject to security breaches or other confidential data theft from our systems, which can adversely affect our reputation and business.

A significant risk associated with online commerce and communications is the secure transmission of confidential information over public networks. Currently, a number of MercadoLibre users authorize us to bill their credit card accounts or debit their bank accounts directly, or use MercadoPago for all the transaction fees that we charge. We rely on encryption and authentication technology to provide the security and authentication technology to transmit confidential information securely, including customer credit card numbers and other account information. Advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography, or other events or developments may result in a compromise or breach of the technology that we use to protect customer transaction data. If our security were compromised, it could have a material adverse effect on our reputation. We cannot assure you that our security measures will prevent security breaches or that failure to prevent them will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We depend on key personnel, the loss of which could have a material adverse effect on us.

Our performance depends substantially on the continued services and on the performance of our senior management and other key personnel. Our ability to retain and motivate these and other officers and employees is fundamental to our performance.

Our ten most senior executive officers have been with us since 2000 or before, providing us with a stable and experienced management team. The loss of the services of any of these executive officers or other key employees could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. We do not have employment agreements with any of our key technical personnel other than our senior executives (whose agreements are for an undetermined period and establish general employment terms and conditions) and maintain no

 

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“key person” life insurance policies. The option grants to most of our senior management and key employees are fully vested. Therefore, these employees may not have sufficient financial incentive to stay with us. Consequently we may have to incur costs to replace key employees who leave and our ability to execute our business model could be impaired if we cannot replace them in a timely manner.

Our future success also depends on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain and motivate other highly skilled technical, managerial, marketing and customer service personnel. Competition for this personnel is intense, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully attract, integrate, train, retain, motivate and manage sufficiently qualified personnel.

Currently our revenues depend substantially on the listing, optional feature and final value fees we charge to sellers and may decrease if market conditions force us to lower such fees or if we fail to diversify our sources of revenue.

Currently our revenues depend primarily on listing, optional feature and final value fees that we charge to our sellers for listing and upon selling their items and services, which together represented 88.4% of our revenues for 2005, 85.0% for 2006 and 85.6% for the three months ended March 31, 2007 (the remainder of our revenues consist of advertising revenues and MercadoPago revenues). Our platform depends upon providing access to a large market at a lower cost than other comparable alternatives. If market conditions force us to substantially lower our listing or final value fees or if we fail to continue to attract new buyers and sellers, and if we are unable to effectively diversify and expand our sources of revenue, our profitability, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

MercadoPago is subject to similar market pressure on the commissions charged for provision of its service.

We are subject to consumer trends and can lose revenue if certain items become less popular.

We derive substantially all of our revenues from fees charged to sellers for listing products for sale on our service, fees charged to sellers who purchase optional features, fees from successfully completed transactions and fees for making payments through MercadoPago. Our future revenues will depend on continued demand for the types of goods that users list on the MercadoLibre marketplace. The popularity of certain categories of items, such as cellular telephones, other electronics, toys, clothing and sporting goods, among consumers may vary over time due to perceived availability, subjective value, and trends of consumers and society in general. A decline in the demand for or popularity of certain items sold through the MercadoLibre marketplace without an increase in demand for different items could reduce the overall volume of transactions on the MercadoLibre service, resulting in reduced revenues. In addition, certain consumer “fads” may temporarily inflate the volume of certain types of items listed on the MercadoLibre marketplace, placing a significant strain on our infrastructure and transaction capacity. These trends may also cause significant fluctuations in our operating results from one quarter to the next.

The success of eBay and other e-commerce companies is not an indication of our future financial performance.

Several companies that operate e-commerce websites, such as eBay, have been successful and profitable in the past. However, we operate in a business environment that is different from eBay’s and other e-commerce companies operating outside of Latin America. These differences

 

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include the smaller size of the national markets, lower Internet adoption rates, lower confidence in remote payment mechanisms and less reliable postal and parcel services. Therefore, you should not interpret the success of any of these companies as indicative of our financial prospects.

We could be subject to liability and forced to change our MercadoPago business practices if we were found to be subject to or in violation of any laws or regulations governing banking, money transmission, or electronic funds transfers in any country where we operate.

A number of jurisdictions where we operate have enacted legislation regulating money transmitters. We believe we do not require a license under the existing statutes of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela to operate MercadoPago with its current agency-based structure. If our operation of MercadoPago were found to be in violation of money services laws or regulations, or engaged in an unauthorized banking business, we could be subject to liability, forced to cease doing business with residents of certain countries, or forced to change our business practices. Any change to our MercadoPago business practices that makes the service less attractive to customers or prohibits its use by residents of a particular jurisdiction could decrease the speed of trade on the MercadoLibre marketplace, which would further harm our business. Even if we are not forced to change our MercadoPago business practices, we could be required to obtain licenses or regulatory approvals that could be very expensive and time consuming, and we cannot assure you that we would be able to obtain these licenses in a timely manner or at all.

MercadoPago is susceptible to illegal uses, and we could potentially face liability for any illegal use of MercadoPago.

MercadoPago, like the MercadoLibre platform, is also susceptible to potentially illegal or improper uses, including, fraudulent and illicit sales, money laundering, bank fraud, and online securities fraud. In addition, MercadoPago’s service could be subject to unauthorized credit card use, identity theft, break-ins to withdraw account balances, employee fraud or other internal security breaches, and we may be required to reimburse customers for any funds stolen as a result of such breaches. Merchants could also request reimbursement, or stop using MercadoPago, if they are affected by buyer fraud.

In addition, MercadoPago may be subject to anti-money laundering laws and regulations that prohibit, among other things, its involvement in transferring the proceeds of criminal activities. Because of different laws and regulations in each jurisdiction where we operate, as we roll-out and adapt MercadoPago in other countries, additional verification and reporting requirements could apply. These regulations could impose significant costs on us and make it more difficult for new customers to join the MercadoPago network. Future regulation (under the USA Patriot Act or otherwise), may require us to learn more about the identity of our MercadoPago customers before opening an account, to obtain additional verification of customers and to monitor our customers’ activities more closely. These requirements, as well as any additional restrictions imposed by credit card associations, could raise our MercadoPago costs significantly and reduce the attractiveness of MercadoPago. Failure to comply with money laundering laws could result in significant criminal and civil lawsuits, penalties, and forfeiture of significant assets.

We incur losses from claims that customers did not authorize a purchase, from buyer fraud and from erroneous transmissions. For 2006, MercadoPago’s transaction loss arising from charge-backs from unrecognized credit card payments totaled $1.2 million, representing 1.3% of MercadoPago’s total payment volume and 15.8% of net revenues of MercadoPago. For the first quarter of 2007, this loss totaled $0.3 million, representing 1.2% of MercadoPago’s total

 

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payment volume and 14.4% of net revenues of MercadoPago. In addition to the direct costs of such losses, if they are related to credit card transactions and become excessive they could result in MercadoPago losing the right to accept credit cards for payment. If MercadoPago is unable to accept credit cards, our business will be adversely affected given that credit cards are the most widely used method for funding the MercadoPago accounts. We have taken measures to detect and reduce the risk of fraud on MercadoPago, such as running address verification system (AVS) and card security code (CSC) checks in some countries, asking users to fax extra documentation for higher risk transactions, caps on overall spending per users and data mining to detect potentially fraudulent transactions. However, these measures may not be effective against current and new forms of fraud. If these measures do not succeed, excessive charge-backs may arise in the future and our business will be adversely affected.

Our failure to manage MercadoPago customer funds properly would harm our business.

Our ability to manage and account accurately for MercadoPago customer funds requires a high level of internal controls. We have neither an established operating history nor proven management experience in maintaining, over a long term, these internal controls. As our MercadoPago business continues to grow, we must strengthen our internal controls accordingly. MercadoPago’s success requires significant public confidence in our ability to handle large and growing transaction volumes and amounts of customer funds. Any failure to maintain necessary controls or to properly manage customer funds could severely reduce customer use of MercadoPago.

MercadoPago is a new service that faces competition from other payment methods, and competitors may adversely affect the success of MercadoPago.

MercadoPago competes with existing online and offline payment methods, including, among others, banks and other providers of traditional payment methods, particularly credit cards, checks, money orders, and electronic bank deposits; international online payments services such as Paypal and Google Checkout, and local players such as DineroMail in Argentina and Chile; money remitters such as Western Union; the use of cash, which is often preferred in Latin America; and offline funding alternatives such as cash deposit and money transmission services. Some of these services may operate at lower commission rates than MercadoPago’s current rates.

MercadoPago’s competitors may respond to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements faster and more effectively than us. They may devote greater resources to the development, promotion, and sale of products and services than we do for MercadoPago. Competing services tied to established banks and other financial institutions may offer greater liquidity and create greater consumer confidence in the safety and efficacy of their services than MercadoPago. Established banks and other financial institutions currently offer online payments and those which do not yet provide such a service could quickly and easily develop it.

We are currently in the process of rolling out a new fee scale and structure for MercadoPago, in order to achieve better monetization of transactions. Customers may not like this new structure, which could result in decreased use of MercadoPago and therefore have the opposite effect to the one intended. In addition, the transition to the new system may not be a smooth one. Any of these events would adversely affect our business.

We continue to expand MercadoPago’s services internationally. We have no experience with the online payments business in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Costa Rica or the Dominican Republic. In order to introduce MercadoPago in some countries we may require a

 

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close commercial relation with one or more local banks. These or other factors may prevent, delay or limit our introduction of MercadoPago in other countries, or reduce its profitability.

We rely on banks or payment processors to fund transactions, and changes to credit card association fees, rules or practices may adversely affect our business.

Because MercadoPago is not a bank, we cannot belong to or directly access credit card associations, such as Visa and MasterCard . As a result, we must rely on banks or payment processors to process the funding of MercadoPago transactions and MercadoLibre marketplace collections, and must pay a fee for this service. From time to time, credit card associations may increase the interchange fees that they charge for each transaction using one of their cards. The credit card processors of MercadoPago and the MercadoLibre marketplace have the right to pass any increases in interchange fees on to us as well as increase their own fees for processing. These increased fees increase the operating costs of MercadoPago, reduce our profit margins from MercadoPago operations and, to a lesser degree, affect the operating margins of the MercadoLibre marketplace.

We are also required by MercadoPago and MercadoLibre´s processors to comply with credit card association operating rules. The credit card associations and their member banks set and interpret the credit card rules. Some of those member banks compete with MercadoPago. Visa , MasterCard , American Express or other credit card companies could adopt new operating rules or re-interpret existing rules that we or MercadoPago’s processors might find difficult or even impossible to follow. As a result, we could lose our ability to give MercadoPago customers the option of using credit cards to fund their payments and MercadoLibre users the option to pay their fees using a credit card. If MercadoPago were unable to accept credit cards, our MercadoPago business would be adversely affected.

We could lose the right to accept credit cards if MasterCard and/or Visa determine that users are using MercadoPago to engage in illegal or “high risk” activities. We must prevent “high risk” merchants from using MercadoPago. We have not incurred fines from MercadoPago’s credit card processor relating to our failure to detect the use of MercadoPago by “high risk” merchants. However, in Brazil, in January of 2006 MasterCard informed us that they could not advance our receivables temporarily due to a high level of cancellations. That decision was reversed in February of the same year.

Changes in MercadoPago’s funding mix could adversely affect MercadoPago’s results.

MercadoPago pays significant transaction fees when senders fund payment transactions using credit cards, PagoMisCuentas and Pago Fácil , nominal fees when customers fund payment transactions from their bank accounts in Brazil and Mexico, and no fees when customers fund payment transactions from an existing MercadoPago account balance. Senders funded approximately 67.2% and 65.6% of MercadoPago’s payment volume using credit cards during 2006 and the three months ended March 31, 2007, respectively (either in a single payment or in installments), and MercadoPago’s financial success will remain highly sensitive to changes in the rate at which its senders fund payments using credit cards. Senders may prefer credit card funding rather than bank account transfers for a number of reasons, including the ability to pay in installments in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, the ability to dispute and reverse charges if merchandise is not delivered or is not as described, the ability to earn frequent flyer miles or other incentives offered by credit cards, the ability to defer payment, or a reluctance to provide bank account information to us.

 

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We have no business insurance coverage, which would require us to spend significant resources in the event of a disruption of our services or other contingency.

Insurance companies in Latin America offer limited business insurance products. We do not carry any business liability or disruption insurance coverage for our operations. Any business disruption, litigation, system failure or natural disaster may cause us to incur substantial costs and divert resources, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition.

We may not be able to adequately protect and enforce our intellectual property rights. We could potentially face claims alleging that our technologies infringe the property rights of others.

We regard the protection of our copyrights, service marks, trademarks, domain names, trade dress and trade secrets as critical to our future success and rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, service mark and trade secret laws and contractual restrictions to establish and protect our proprietary rights in our products and services. We have entered into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and certain contractors, and non-disclosure agreements with our employees, and certain suppliers and strategic partners in order to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information. We cannot assure you that these contractual arrangements or the other steps that we have taken or will take in the future to protect our intellectual property will prove sufficient to prevent misappropriation of our technology or to deter independent third-parties from developing similar or competing technologies.

We pursue the registration of our trademarks and service marks in each country where we operate, in the United States and in certain other Latin American countries. Effective trademark, service mark, copyright, domain name and trade secret protection may not be available in every country in which our services are made available online. We have licensed in the past, and expect that we may license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks or copyrighted material, to third parties. While we attempt to ensure that our licensees maintain the quality of the MercadoLibre brand, our licensees may take actions that could materially adversely affect the value of our proprietary rights or reputation, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

To date, we have not been notified that our technology infringes the proprietary rights of third parties, but third parties may claim infringement on our part with respect to past, current or future technologies or features of our services. We expect that participants in our markets will be increasingly subject to infringement claims as the number of services and competitors in the e-commerce segment grows. Any of these claims could have a material adverse effect upon our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Since 2001, eBay has been subject to a lawsuit alleging infringement of patents relating to online consignment auction technology, multiple database searching and electronic consignment systems. In September 2001, MercExchange LLC filed a complaint against eBay and their subsidiaries in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia alleging infringement of three patents (relating to online consignment auction technology, multiple database searching and electronic consignment systems) and seeking a permanent injunction and damages (including treble damages for willful infringement). Following a trial and jury verdict, in August 2003, the court entered judgment for MercExchange in the amount of approximately $30 million plus pre-judgment interest and post-judgment interest, but refused to grant an injunction. eBay

 

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appealed the verdict and judgment in favor of MercExchange, and MercExchange filed a cross-appeal. In May, 2006, following appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court ruled that an outright denial of an injunction in a patent case is not appropriate, and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings. On August 28, 2006, MercExchange renewed its motion for a permanent injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Final briefs on such motion were filed in March of 2007. Based on reports filed with the SEC by eBay, a hearing for such motion was scheduled for June of 2007.

If eBay is not successful in appealing or modifying the court’s ruling, or in the remanded proceedings, they would likely be forced to pay significant additional damages and licensing fees and/or modify their business practices. An adverse ruling to eBay could potentially subject us to similar successful claims in the future and therefore could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We filed our first three applications to register the name “MercadoLivre” in Brazil with the Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (the National Institute of Industrial Property, or INPI) on October 7, 1999. Editora Livre Mercado Ltda., a publishing company, challenged these three applications based on their trademark “Livre Mercado,” a trade magazine. These challenges are currently pending with INPI. In addition to these processes, Agência Folha de Notícias Ltda., a news company, filed an application to register the name “MercadoLivre” on October 7, 1999, a few hours before we filed our application. We challenged that application. We cannot assure you that we will succeed in obtaining these trademarks or in our challenges to existing or future applications by other parties. If we are not successful, we could face claims by any future trademark owners. Any past or future claims relating to these issues, whether meritorious or not, could cause us to enter into costly royalty and/or licensing agreements. We may also have to modify our brand name in certain countries if any successful demands against us are too expensive. Any of these circumstances could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

From time to time, we are involved in other disputes or regulatory inquiries that arise in the ordinary course of business. The number and significance of these disputes and inquiries are increasing as our business expands and we grow larger. Any claims or regulatory actions against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in expensive litigation, require significant amounts of management time, and result in the diversion of significant operational resources.

We may not be able to secure licenses for third party technologies that we rely on.

We also rely on certain technologies that we license from third parties, such as Oracle Corp., SAP AG, and Salesforce.com, the suppliers of key database technology, the operating system and specific hardware components for our services. We cannot assure you that these third-party technology licenses will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms. If we were not able to make use of this technology, we would need to obtain substitute technology that may be of lower quality or performance standards or at greater cost, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Problems that affect our third-party service providers could potentially adversely affect us as well.

A number of parties provide beneficial services to us or to our users. These services include the hosting of our servers, and the postal and payments infrastructures that allow users to deliver

 

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and pay for the goods and services traded amongst themselves, in addition to paying their MercadoLibre marketplace bills. Financial, regulatory, or other problems that might prevent these companies from providing services to us or our users could reduce the number of listings on our websites or make completing transactions on our websites more difficult, which would harm our business. Any security breach at one of these companies could also affect our customers and harm our business. Although we generally have been able to renew or extend the terms of contractual arrangements with these third party service providers on acceptable terms, we cannot assure you that we will continue to be able to do so in the future.

Complaints from customers or negative publicity about our services can diminish consumer confidence and adversely affect our business.

Because volume and growth in adoption are key factors for our profitability, customer complaints or negative publicity about our customer service could severely diminish consumer confidence in and use of our services. Measures we sometimes take to combat risks of fraud and breaches of privacy and security can damage relations with our customers. To maintain good customer relations, we need prompt and accurate customer service to resolve irregularities and disputes. Effective customer service requires significant personnel expense and investment in developing programs and technology infrastructure to help customer service representatives carry out their functions. These expenses, if not managed properly, could significantly impact our profitability. Failure to manage or train our customer service representatives properly could compromise our ability to handle customer complaints effectively. If we do not handle customer complaints effectively, our reputation may suffer and we may lose our customers’ confidence.

As part of our program to reduce fraud losses in relation to MercadoPago, we make use of MercadoPago anti-fraud models and we may temporarily restrict the ability of customers to withdraw their funds if we identify those funds or the customer’s account activity as suspicious. MercadoPago has not been subject to any significant negative publicity about this, but a few users who were banned from withdrawing funds started legal actions against us. As a result of our efforts to police the use of our services, MercadoPago may receive negative publicity, our ability to attract new MercadoPago customers may be damaged, and we could become subject to litigation. If any of these events happen, current and future revenues could suffer, and our database technology operating margins may decrease. In addition, negative publicity about or experiences with MercadoPago customer support could cause MercadoLibre´s reputation to suffer or affect consumer confidence in the MercadoLibre brand.

We may not realize benefits from recent or future strategic acquisitions of businesses, technologies, services or products despite their costs in cash and dilution to our stockholders.

Although we currently have no understandings, commitments or agreements with respect to any current or future material acquisition, we intend to continue to acquire businesses, technologies, services or products, as we have done in the past with our acquisitions of iBazar, Lokau, and DeRemate, which we believe are strategic if an appropriate opportunity presents itself. We cannot, however, assure that we will be able to identify, negotiate or finance such future acquisitions successfully or at favorable valuation, or to effectively integrate these acquisitions with our current business. The process of integrating an acquired business, technology, service or product into our business may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. Moreover, future acquisitions may also generate unforeseen pressures and/or strains on our organizational culture.

 

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Additionally, acquisitions could result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities and/or amortization expenses related to goodwill and other intangible assets, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Any future acquisitions of other businesses, technologies, services or products might require us to obtain additional equity or debt financing, which might not be available on favorable terms, or at all. If financing is available, it might cause the dilution of our common stock.

We are subject to seasonal fluctuations in our results of operations.

We believe that our results of operations are somewhat seasonal in nature (as is the case with traditional retailers), with relatively fewer listings and transactions in the first quarters of the year, and increased activity as the year-end shopping season initiates. This seasonality is the result of fewer listings after the Christmas and other holidays and summer vacation periods in our Southern hemisphere markets. To some degree, our historical rapid growth may have overshadowed seasonal or cyclical factors that might have influenced our business to date. Seasonal or cyclical variations in our operations could become more pronounced over time, which could materially adversely affect our quarter to quarter results of operations in the future.

We have spent significant resources to launch and market classified advertisements on the MercadoLibre marketplace, which may not be successful in generating sufficient revenues for us.

In order to address the specific needs of buyers and sellers of motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, real estate and services, we created classified advertisements in the MercadoLibre marketplace. We have spent considerable resources in creating and marketing this space. However, this investment may not be successful in generating additional revenues for us and we may incur losses from offering this service. These losses could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We operate in a highly competitive and evolving market, and therefore face potential reductions in the use of our service.

The market for trading over the Internet is relatively new in Latin America, rapidly evolving and intensely competitive, and we expect competition to become more intense in the future. Barriers to entry are relatively low, and current and new competitors can launch new sites at a relatively low cost using software that is commercially available. We currently or potentially compete with a number of other companies.

Our direct competitors include various online sales and auction services, including DeRemate in Chile and Argentina, MasOportunidades.com in Argentina, and a number of other small services, including those that serve specialty markets. We also compete with business-to-consumer online e-commerce services, such as B2W Inc. in Brazil and with shopping comparison sites, such as Buscapé and Bondfaro, located throughout Latin America. In addition, we compete with online communities that specialize in classified advertisements. We face competition from a number of large online communities and services that have expertise in developing online commerce and facilitating online interaction. Certain of these competitors, including Google, Amazon.com, Microsoft and Yahoo! currently offer a variety of business-to-consumer trading services, searching services and classified advertising services, and certain of these companies may introduce broader online trading to their large user populations. Other large companies with strong brand recognition and experience in online commerce, such as large newspaper or media

 

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companies also compete in the online listing market. We also compete with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to the extent buyers choose to purchase products in a physical establishment as opposed to on our platform. Any or all of these companies could create competitive pressures, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We no longer have a non-competition arrangement with eBay. If eBay were to compete directly with us by launching a competing platform in Latin America, it would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and prospects. Similarly, eBay or other larger, well-established and well-financed companies may acquire, invest in or enter into other commercial relationships with competing online trading services. Therefore, some of our competitors and potential competitors may be able to devote greater resources to marketing and promotional campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and devote substantially more resources to website and systems development than us, which could adversely affect us.

In many cases, companies that directly or indirectly compete with us provide Internet access. These competitors include incumbent telephone companies, cable companies, mobile communications companies and large Internet service providers. Some of these providers may take measures that could degrade, disrupt, or increase the cost of customers’ use of our services. For example, they could restrict or prohibit the use of their lines for our services, filter, block or delay the packets containing the data associated with our products, charge increased fees to us or our users for use of their lines to provide our services, or seek to charge us for our customers’ use of our services or receipt of our e-mails. These activities are technically feasible. Although we have not identified any providers who intend to take these actions, any interference with our services or higher charges for access to the Internet, could cause us to lose existing users, impair our ability to attract new users, limit our potential expansion and harm our revenue and growth.

Risks related to doing business in Latin America

We face the risk of political and economic crises, instability, terrorism, civil strife, expropriation and other risks of doing business in emerging markets .

We conduct our operations in emerging market countries in Latin America. Economic and political developments in these countries, including future economic changes or crises (such as inflation, currency devaluation or recession), government deadlock, political instability, terrorism, civil strife, changes in laws and regulations, expropriation or nationalization of property, and exchange controls could impact our operations or the market value of our common stock and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In the past, the performance of the economies of Latin American countries has been affected by each country’s political situation. For example, during its crisis in 2001 and 2002, Argentina experienced social and political turmoil, including civil unrest, riots, looting, protests, strikes and street demonstrations. Government policies to preempt such civil, social and political turmoil affected the Argentine economy. More recently, the Venezuelan and Bolivian administrations have nationalized or announced plans to nationalize certain industries and expropriate certain companies and property, and, in Venezuela, the administration has imposed exchange controls.

Although economic conditions in one country may differ significantly from another country, we cannot assure that events in one country alone will not adversely affect the market value of, or market for, our common stock.

 

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Latin American governments have exercised and continue to exercise significant influence over the economies of the countries where we operate. This involvement, as well as political and economic conditions, could adversely affect our business.

Governments in Latin America frequently intervene in the economies of their respective countries and occasionally make significant changes in policy and regulations. Governmental actions to control inflation and other policies and regulations have often involved, among other measures, price controls, currency devaluations, capital controls and limits on imports. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected by changes in government policies or regulations, including such factors as: exchange rates and exchange control policies; inflation rates; interest rates; tariff and inflation control policies; import duties on information technology equipment; liquidity of domestic capital and lending markets; electricity rationing; tax policies; and other political, diplomatic, social and economic developments in or affecting the countries where we operate. An eventual reduction of foreign investment in any of the countries where we operate may have a negative impact on such country’s economy, affecting interest rates and the ability of companies such as ourselves to access financial markets.

Latin America has experienced adverse economic conditions.

Latin American countries have historically experienced uneven periods of economic growth, as well as recession, periods of high inflation and economic instability. Certain countries have experienced severe economic crises, which may still have future effects. For example, in 2001 Argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt due to severe economic turmoil. In the first half of 2005, Argentina restructured part of this sovereign debt. Certain creditors did not agree to the restructuring. Argentina’s past default and its failure to restructure completely its remaining sovereign debt and fully negotiate with the holdout creditors may prevent Argentina from obtaining favorable terms or interest rates when accessing the international capital markets. Litigation initiated by holdout creditors or other parties may result in material judgments against the Argentine government and could result in attachments of or injunctions relating to assets of Argentina that the government intended for other uses. As a result, the government may not have the financial resources necessary to implement reforms and foster growth, which could have a material adverse effect on the country’s economy. Any of these adverse economic conditions may occur again in the future, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Local currencies used in the conduct of our business are subject to depreciation, volatility and exchange controls.

The currencies of many countries in Latin America, including Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, which together accounted for 87.9% of our revenues for 2006 and 86.5% for the three months ended March 31, 2007, have experienced substantial depreciation and volatility, particularly against the U.S. dollar, in the past. However, certain currencies have appreciated against the U.S. dollar in recent years. For example, in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the Brazilian real appreciated against the U.S. dollar by 8.1%, 11.7% and 5.0%, respectively. Currency movements, as well as higher interest rates, have materially and adversely affected the economies of many Latin American countries, including countries which account or are expected to account for a significant portion of our revenues. The depreciation of local currencies creates inflationary pressures that may have an adverse effect on us and generally restricts access to the international capital markets. For example, the devaluation of the Argentine peso has had a negative impact on the ability of Argentine

 

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businesses to honor their foreign currency denominated debt, led to very high inflation initially, significantly reduced real wages, had a negative impact on businesses whose success is dependent on domestic market demand, and adversely affected the government’s ability to honor its foreign debt obligations. On the other hand, the appreciation of local currencies against the U.S. dollar may lead to the deterioration of the public accounts and balance of payments of the countries where we operate, as well as to a lower economic growth related to exports.

We may be subject to exchange control regulations which might restrict our ability to convert local currencies into U.S. dollars. For example, in 2001 and 2002, Argentina imposed exchange controls and transfer restrictions substantially limiting the ability of companies to retain foreign currency or make payments abroad. These restrictions have been substantially eased, including those requiring the Central Bank’s prior authorization for the transfer of funds abroad in order to pay principal and interest on debt obligations. In addition, Brazilian law provides that whenever there is a serious imbalance in Brazil’s balance of payments or reason to foresee a serious imbalance, the Brazilian government may impose temporary restrictions on the remittance to foreign investors of the proceeds of their investments in Brazil. Currently, Venezuela has certain exchange control regulations in place that restrict our ability to convert local currency into U.S. dollars. Any additional imposition of exchange controls could adversely affect our company.

Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar but our revenues are paid in foreign currencies. Therefore, if the U.S. dollar strengthens relative to these foreign currencies (i.e. the foreign currencies devaluate against the U.S. dollar), the economic value of our revenues in U.S. dollar terms will decline.

We are subject to increased risks relating to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. Because we conduct our business outside the United States and receive almost all of our revenues in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, but report our results in U.S. dollars, we face exposure to adverse movements in currency exchange rates. The currencies of certain countries where we operate, including most notably Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, have historically experienced significant devaluations. The results of operations in the countries where we operate are exposed to foreign exchange rate fluctuations as the financial results of the applicable subsidiaries are translated from the local currency into U.S. dollars upon consolidation. If the U.S. dollar weakens against foreign currencies, as occurred in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the translation of these foreign-currency-denominated transactions will result in increased net revenues, operating expenses, and net income. Similarly, our net revenues, operating expenses, and net income will decrease if the U.S. dollar strengthens against foreign currencies. For 2006, 59.1% of our revenues were denominated in Brazilian reais, 15.1% in Argentine pesos and 13.8% in Mexican pesos. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, 57.0% of our revenues were denominated in Brazilian reais, 14.7% in Argentine pesos and 14.8% in Mexican pesos. The foreign currency exchange rates in 2006 relative to 2005 resulted in higher net revenues of approximately $2.7 million and an increase in aggregate cost of net revenues and operating expenses of approximately $1.6 million. While we have entered in the past into transactions to hedge portions of our foreign currency translation exposure, these are expensive, and in addition it is impossible to perfectly predict or completely eliminate the effects of this exposure.

Inflation and certain government measures to curb inflation may have adverse effects on the economies of the countries where we operate, our business and our operations .

Most Latin American countries have historically experienced high rates of inflation. Inflation and some measures implemented to curb inflation have had significant negative effects on the

 

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economies of Latin American countries. Governmental actions taken in an effort to curb inflation, coupled with speculation about possible future actions, have contributed to economic uncertainty over the years in most Latin American countries. The Latin American countries where we operate may experience high levels of inflation in the future that could lead to further government intervention in the economy, including the introduction of government policies that could adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, if any of these countries experience high rates of inflation, we may not be able to adjust the price of our services sufficiently to offset the effects of inflation on our cost structures. A return to a high inflation environment would also have negative effects on the level of economic activity and employment and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Developments in other markets may affect the Latin American countries where we operate, our financial condition and results of operations.

The market value of securities of companies such as ourselves, may be, to varying degrees, affected by economic and market conditions in other global markets. Although economic conditions vary from country to country, investors’ perception of the events occurring in one country may substantially affect capital flows into and securities from issuers in other countries, including Latin American countries. Various Latin American economies have been adversely impacted by the political and economic events that occurred in several emerging economies in recent times, including Mexico in 1994, the collapse of several Asian economies between 1997 and 1998, the economic crisis in Russia in 1998, the Brazilian devaluations in January of 1999 and in 2002, the Argentine crisis of 2001 and the market decline after September 11, 2001. Furthermore, Latin American economies may be affected by events in developed economies which are trading partners or that impact the global economy.

Developments of a similar magnitude to the international markets in the future can be expected to adversely affect the economies of Latin American countries and therefore us.

E-commerce transactions in Latin America may be impeded by the lack of secure payment methods.

Unlike in the United States, consumers and merchants in Latin America can be held fully liable for credit card and other losses due to third-party fraud. As secure methods of payment for e-commerce transactions have not been widely adopted in Latin America, both consumers and merchants generally have a relatively low confidence level in the integrity of e-commerce transactions. In addition, many banks and other financial institutions have generally been reluctant to give merchants the right to process online transactions due to these concerns about credit card fraud. Unless consumer fraud laws in Latin American countries are modified to protect e-commerce merchants and consumers, and until secure, integrated online payment processing methods are fully implemented across the region, our ability to generate revenues from e-commerce may be limited, which could have a material adverse effect on our company.

Risks related to the offering and to our shares

There has been no prior market for our common stock, and an active trading market for our common stock may not develop.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock, and we cannot assure you that an active public market will develop or be sustained after this offering or that investors will be able to sell the common stock should they desire to do so. We will negotiate with the representatives of the underwriters to determine the initial public offering price, and it may bear no relationship to the price at which the common stock will trade upon completion of this offering.

 

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The price of our shares may fluctuate substantially, and your investment may decline in value.

The trading price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors, many of which are beyond our control, including those described above under “—Risks related to our business.”

Further, the stock markets in general, and the Nasdaq Global Market and the market for Internet-related and technology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. We cannot assure you that trading prices and valuations will be sustained. These broad market and industry factors may materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. Market fluctuations, as well as general political and economic conditions in the countries where we operate, such as recession or currency exchange rate fluctuations, may also adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, that company is often subject to securities class-action litigation. This kind of litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We will continue to be significantly influenced by a group of stockholders that will control a significant percentage of our common shares.

Upon completion of this offering we expect that several stockholders will own a significant percentage of our common stock. eBay will own approximately 18.5% of our common stock. Certain members of our management are also expected to hold a significant percentage of our common stock after this offering. Investment entities affiliated with General Atlantic LLC, collectively, General Atlantic, and investment entities affiliated with Tiger Global, L.P., collectively, Tiger, have each separately expressed interest in acquiring a significant amount of shares of our common stock in this offering. As of the date of this prospectus, Tiger is the beneficial owner of 1.7 million shares of our common stock. If General Atlantic and Tiger purchase shares in this offering, we anticipate that upon completion of this offering, General Atlantic and Tiger could each hold shares representing more than 10% of our common stock. If General Atlantic chooses to purchase a significant amount of shares of common stock in this offering, it has expressed an interest in submitting to our nominating and corporate governance committee a director nominee to be considered for appointment by our board of directors after completion of this offering . See “Underwriting.”

Although the stockholders agreement will terminate upon the closing of this offering, we cannot assure you that stockholders will not enter into one in the future. These stockholders will retain the power to influence the outcome of important corporate decisions or matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders. The interests of these stockholders may conflict with, or differ from, the interests of other holders of our common shares. For example, these stockholders could cause us to make acquisitions that increase the amount of our indebtedness or outstanding shares of common stock, sell revenue-generating assets or inhibit change of control transactions that benefit other stockholders. They may also pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business, and as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us. So long as these stockholders continue to own a substantial number of shares of our common stock, they will significantly influence all our corporate decisions and together with other stockholders may be able to effect or inhibit changes in control of our company.

 

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Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and Delaware law could inhibit others from acquiring us, prevent a change of control, and may prevent efforts by our stockholders to change our management.

Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation and by-laws, to be effective immediately before this offering, may inhibit a change of control that our board of directors does not approve or changes in the composition of our board of directors, which could result in the entrenchment of current management. These provisions include:

 

 

advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and director nominations;

 

 

a staggered board of directors;

 

 

limitations on the ability of stockholders to remove directors other than for cause;

 

 

limitations on the ability of stockholders to own and/or exercise voting power over 20% of our common stock;

 

 

limitations on the ability of stockholders to amend, alter or repeal our by-laws;

 

 

the inability of stockholders to act by written consent;

 

 

the authority of the board of directors to adopt a stockholder rights plan;

 

 

the authority of the board of directors to issue, without stockholder approval, preferred stock with any terms that the board of directors determines and additional shares of our common stock; and

 

 

limitations on the ability of certain stockholders to enter into certain business combinations with us, as provided under Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law.

These provisions of our certificate of incorporation and by-laws may delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change in control that might otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders. See “Description of capital stock” for more information.

We may require additional capital after the offering, and this additional capital may not be available on acceptable terms or at all.

We currently anticipate that the net proceeds of this offering, together with our available funds, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated needs for working capital, capital expenditures and business expansion through at least the next twelve months. After that time, we may need to raise additional funds. We may need to raise additional funds sooner in order to fund more rapid expansion (organically or through strategic acquisitions), to develop new or enhanced services or products, to respond to competitive pressures or to acquire complementary products, businesses or technologies. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, the percentage ownership of our stockholders will be reduced, stockholders may experience additional dilution and the securities that we issue may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our common stock. We cannot assure you that additional financing will be available on terms favorable to us or at all. If adequate funds are not available or are not available on acceptable terms, we may not be able to fund our expansion, take advantage of unanticipated acquisition opportunities, develop or enhance services or products or respond to competitive pressures. These inabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

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Shares eligible for future sale may cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

The market price of our common stock could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our common stock in the market after this offering or the perception that these sales could occur. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.

After the consummation of this offering, there will be 43,835,263 shares of our common stock outstanding. Subject to the lock-up agreements described below, the 16,077,185 shares of common stock sold in this offering (18,488,762 shares if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full) will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, by persons other than our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

Certain stockholders or entities controlled by them or their permitted transferees will, subject to the lock-up agreements described below, be able to sell their shares in the public market from time to time without registering them, subject to certain limitations on the timing, amount and method of those sales imposed by regulations promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. Holders of restricted stock will also have the right to cause us to register the resale of shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. For example, beginning 90 days after the completion of this offering, certain of our stockholders will have the right to request that we register with the SEC shares of our common stock having a gross offering price of at least $2,000,000. If any of these stockholders, the affiliated entities controlled by them or their respective permitted transferees were to sell a large number of their shares, the market price of our common stock could decline significantly. In addition, the perception in the public markets that sales by them might occur could also adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

We, the selling stockholders, certain of our other stockholders and our directors and executive officers have agreed to lock-up agreements that restrict us, these stockholders and our directors and executive officers, subject to specified exceptions, from selling or otherwise disposing of any shares of our stock for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus without the prior consent of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated on behalf of the underwriters. Although there is no present intention to do so, the underwriters may, in their sole discretion and without notice, release all or any portion of the shares from the restrictions in any of the lock-up agreements described above. Each of General Atlantic and Tiger has agreed that, in the event it purchases any shares in this offering, it will not, without our prior written consent, transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any of its shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for our shares, for a period of 18 months. In addition, these lock-up agreements are subject to the exceptions described in “Underwriting.”

Also, in the future, we may issue securities in connection with investments and acquisitions. The amount of our common stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then outstanding common stock.

It is unlikely that we will declare any dividends on our capital stock.

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Instead, we intend to retain earnings, if any, for future operations and expansion and debt repayments. In addition, the terms of certain of our credit agreements prohibit the payment of cash dividends on our capital stock. Any decision

 

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to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of the board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

As a new investor, you will experience substantial and immediate dilution in the net tangible book value per share of your shares.

The initial public offering price of our common stock is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of our outstanding common stock. Investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering will incur an immediate dilution of $16.00 in net tangible book value per share (based on the midpoint of the price range per share of common stock set forth on the cover of this prospectus). This means that investors in this offering will pay a price per share that substantially exceeds the value of our tangible assets after subtracting liabilities. See “Dilution” for more information.

Requirements associated with being a public company will require significant company resources and management attention.

After completion of this offering, we will become subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and the other rules and regulations of the SEC and the Nasdaq Global Market. We will also be subject to various other regulatory requirements, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting by December 31, 2008. If we or our independent registered public accounting firm determine that we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting, we may not detect errors on a timely basis and our financial statements may be materially misstated. As a result, our stockholders could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which could harm the trading price of our stock. In addition, upon completion of this offering, we will become subject to the rules of The Nasdaq Global Market. We expect the rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly.

We intend to take advantage of certain “grace periods” for newly public companies under certain of the new SEC and Nasdaq Global Market rules and regulations, which grace periods will provide us a short period of time after we become a public company before we are required to be in full compliance with these rules and regulations. Our ability to satisfy the various requirements before the expiration of the applicable grace periods will depend largely on our ability to attract and retain qualified independent members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee, which may be more difficult in light of these new rules and regulations. If we fail to satisfy the various requirements before the expiration of the applicable grace periods, our common stock may be delisted from the Nasdaq Global Market, which would cause a decline in the trading price of our common stock and impair the ability of the holders of our common stock to sell and buy our common stock in a public market.

It may be difficult to enforce judgments against us in U.S. courts.

Although we are a Delaware corporation, our subsidiaries and most of our assets are located outside of the United States. Furthermore, most of our directors and officers and some experts named in this prospectus reside outside the United States. As a result, you may not be able to enforce against us or our directors or officers in U.S. courts judgments based on the civil liability provisions of U.S. federal securities laws. It is unclear if original actions of civil liabilities based solely upon U.S. federal securities laws are enforceable in courts outside the United States. It is

 

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equally unclear if judgments entered by U.S. courts based on the civil liability provisions of U.S. federal securities laws are enforceable in courts outside the United States. Any enforcement action in a court outside the United States will be subject to compliance with procedural requirements under applicable local law, including the condition that the judgment does not violate the public policy of the applicable jurisdiction.

 

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Forward-looking statements

Any statements contained in this prospectus that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements and should be evaluated as such. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “project,” “should,” “may,” “could,” “will” and similar words and expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are contained throughout this prospectus, for example in “Prospectus summary,” “Risk factors,” “Dividend policy,” “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” and “Business.” Forward-looking statements generally relate to information concerning our possible or assumed future results of operations, business strategies, financing plans, competitive position, industry environment, potential growth opportunities, the effects of future regulation and the effects of competition. Such forward-looking statements reflect, among other things, our current expectations, plans, projections and strategies, anticipated financial results, future events and financial trends affecting our business, all of which are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and important factors in addition to those discussed elsewhere in this prospectus that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including, among other things:

 

 

continued growth of online commerce and Internet usage in Latin America;

 

 

our ability to expand our operations and adapt to rapidly changing technologies;

 

 

government regulation;

 

 

litigation and legal liability;

 

 

system interruptions or failures;

 

 

our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel;

 

 

consumer trends;

 

 

security breaches and illegal uses of our services;

 

 

competition;

 

 

reliance on third-party service providers;

 

 

enforcement of intellectual property rights;

 

 

our ability to attract new customers, retain existing customers and increase revenues;

 

 

seasonal fluctuations; and

 

 

political, social and economic conditions in Latin America.

Many of these risks are beyond our ability to control or predict. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained throughout this prospectus. Because of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Furthermore, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to update or review any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

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Use of proceeds

We expect to receive net proceeds of approximately $40.6 million from our sale of 2,608,696 shares of common stock (or $47.0 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase from us 391,304 additional shares to cover any over-allotments) at an assumed initial public offering price of $17.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus, and after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by us. A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $17.00 per share would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $2.5 million, assuming the number of shares that we offer, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same, and after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expense. We have also agreed to consider, at our discretion, paying to J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated for their services as joint book-runners of this offering an incentive fee equal to up to 7% of the gross proceeds to us from our sale of shares in this offering. If we determine to pay this additional fee in full, our net proceeds would be reduced by approximately $443,000 (or $510,000 if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase from us 391,304 additional shares to cover any over-allotments.)

We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the common stock by the selling stockholders.

We intend to use $9.3 million of our net proceeds from this offering to repay the total outstanding principal amount and accrued interest, as required under the Loan and Security Agreement, dated November 2, 2005, between us and eBay. The interest rate on the loan is 7.0% per year on the basis of a 360-day year, with an additional 3.0% interest if we are in default. The borrowings under the loan mature 15 days after we receive the proceeds of an issuance of equity securities, such as this offering. We expect to use our remaining net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including working capital. In particular, we may acquire or invest in businesses, technologies or products that are complementary to our business. Although we have no acquisitions pending, we regularly evaluate acquisition opportunities consistent with these strategic goals. Pending these uses, we intend to invest our net proceeds from this offering in short-term, interest-bearing, investment-grade securities. We will have significant discretion as to the use of the net proceeds from this offering.

Dividend policy

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Instead, we intend to retain earnings, if any, for future operations and expansion and debt repayments. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. For example, the terms of the agreement governing our loan with eBay imposes restrictions on our ability to declare dividends on our capital stock in an event of default. This agreement will terminate upon payment in full of the outstanding principal amount of the loan and accrued interest, which we expect to pay with the net proceeds of this offering. Currently, we do not plan on incurring any additional material debt.

 

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Capitalization

The following table sets forth our cash, cash equivalents, short and long term investments, current debt and capitalization at March 31, 2007:

(i) on an actual basis; and

(ii) on a pro forma, as adjusted basis to give effect to (a) our issuance of 478,470 shares upon exercise of outstanding options and our receipt of the aggregate exercise price therefrom since March 31, 2007, (b) the conversion of all of our outstanding shares of preferred stock (mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock) and different classes of common stock into shares of one class of common stock upon the closing of this offering (see “Description of capital stock”), (c) our issuance of 184,273 shares upon the exercise of outstanding warrants upon completion of this offering and our receipt of the aggregate exercise price therefrom, (d) our sale of 2,608,696 shares of common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $17.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range per share of common stock set forth on the cover of this prospectus, and after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses, and (e) application of the net proceeds as described in “Use of proceeds.”

You should read this table in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

March 31, 2007

(in millions) (unaudited)

   Actual     Pro forma, as
adjusted
 

Cash and cash equivalents and short and long term investments

   $ 15.6     $ 47.9  

Debt, current portion

     0.3       —    

Debt, long-term portion

     9.0       —    
        

Total debt

     9.3       —    

Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

     64.2       —    

Stockholders’ (deficit) equity:

    

Common stock, par value $0.01 per share, 108,800,000 shares authorized; 13,375,982 shares issued and outstanding, at March 31, 2007 (actual)

     0.1    

Common stock, par value $0.001 per share, 110,000,000 shares authorized; 43,835,263 shares issued and outstanding, pro forma, as adjusted(1)

       —    

Additional paid-in capital

     2.6       110.8  

Accumulated deficit

     (43.1 )     (43.7 )

Accumulated other comprehensive income

     1.2       1.2  
        

Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)

     (39.2 )     68.3  
        

Total capitalization(2)

   $ 34.3       68.3  

 

(1)   Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase 391,304 shares from us to cover over-allotments. Excludes 149,111 shares reserved for future issuance upon exercise of outstanding options and 296,437 shares available for future awards under our stock option plan.
(2)   Total capitalization (actual) includes total debt plus mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders’ deficit; total capitalization, pro forma, as adjusted includes total debt plus stockholders’ equity.

 

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Dilution

If you invest in our common stock, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our common stock and the net tangible book value per share of our common stock upon completion of this offering.

Our net tangible book value at March 31, 2007 was a deficit of $64.2 million, or $(4.80) per share, based on the number of shares of common stock outstanding at March 31, 2007. Net tangible book value per share of common stock is equal to our total assets less intangible assets and net deferred tax assets less total liabilities and mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock, divided by the number of outstanding shares of common stock at March 31, 2007. After giving effect to (a) our issuance of 478,470 shares upon exercise of outstanding options and our receipt of the aggregate exercise price therefrom since March 31, 2007, (b) the conversion of all of our outstanding shares of preferred stock (mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock) and different classes of common stock into shares of one class of common stock upon the closing of this offering (see “Description of capital stock”), (c) our issuance of 184,273 shares upon the exercise of outstanding warrants upon completion of this offering and our receipt of the aggregate exercise price therefrom, and (d) our sale of 2,608,696 shares of common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $17.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range per share of common stock set forth on the cover of this prospectus, and after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses, our net tangible book value at March 31, 2007 would have been approximately $43.9 million, or $1.00 per share. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of $5.80 per share to existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $16.00 per share to new investors purchasing shares at the initial public offering price. The following table illustrates the per share dilution:

 

Assumed initial public offering price per share

   $ 17.00  

Net tangible book value per share at March 31, 2007

     (4.80 )

Increase in net tangible book value per share attributable to existing stockholders

     3.32  

Increase in net tangible book value attributable to conversion of preferred stock, exercise of warrants and stock options

     2.48  

Net tangible book value per share after the offering

     1.00  

Dilution per share to new investors

   $ 16.00  

The following table summarizes at March 31, 2007, on an adjusted basis, the number of shares of common stock purchased from us, the total consideration paid to us and the average price per share paid by existing stockholders and by investors purchasing shares of common stock in this offering (before deducting the estimated underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses) based upon an assumed initial public offering price of $17.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range per share of common stock set forth on the cover of this prospectus, after giving effect to the conversion of all outstanding shares of preferred stock and different classes of common stock into shares of one class of common stock and before deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses:

 

      Shares purchased    Total consideration    Average
price per
share
    Number    Percent    Amount    Percent   
 

Existing stockholders

  13,468,489    84%    $ 228,964,313    84%    $ 17.00

New investors

  2,608,696    16          44,347,832    16          17.00
                       

Total

  16,077,185    100%    $ 273,312,145    100%       

 

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As of the date of this prospectus, there are options outstanding to purchase a total of 149,111 shares of common stock with a weighted average exercise price of $1.17 per share and there are 296,437 shares available for future awards. To the extent that any of these additional options are exercised, there will be further dilution to new public investors. See “Capitalization,” “Compensation discussion and analysis —Our stock and stock option plans” and note 11 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

 

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Selected financial and other data

The following summary financial data at December 31, 2005 and 2006 and for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2005 and 2006 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements and their related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. The following selected financial data at December 31, 2002, 2003 and 2004, and for the years ended December 31, 2002 and 2003 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements for those years, which are not included in this prospectus.

The selected financial data for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007 have been derived from our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. These statements include all normal recurring adjustments that management believes are necessary to fairly present our financial position, operating results and cash flows. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2007 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ended December 31, 2007 or for any other period.

A separate audited combined income statement and statement of cash flows of the acquired business (certain operations of DeRemate.com, Inc.) for the period from January 1, 2005 to October 31, 2005 is included elsewhere in this prospectus in compliance with Rule 3-05 of Regulation S-X.

The following summary financial and other data is qualified by reference to and should be read in conjunction with “Capitalization,” “Summary financial and other data,” “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

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     Year ended December 31,      Three months ended
March 31,
 
(in millions)    2002     2003     2004     2005     2006      2006
(unaudited)
    2007
(unaudited)
 

Statement of operations data:

               

Net revenues

   $ 1.7     $ 5.6     $ 12.7     $ 28.2     $ 52.1      $ 11.0     $ 16.5  

Cost of net revenues

     (0.7 )     (1.1 )     (2.5 )     (6.1 )     (12.1 )      (2.5 )     (3.6 )
                                                         

Gross profit

     1.0       4.5       10.2       22.1       40.0        8.5       12.9  
                                                         

Operating expenses:

               

Product and technology development

     (0.7 )     (1.0 )     (1.3 )     (2.2 )     (3.1 )      (0.7 )     (1.0 )

Sales and marketing

     (2.3 )     (4.9 )     (9.1 )     (14.7 )     (23.4 )      (5.1 )     (6.3 )

General and administrative

     (1.0 )     (2.1 )     (3.1 )     (4.4 )     (8.2 )      (1.9 )     (2.7 )
                                                         

Total operating expenses

     (4.0 )     (8.0 )     (13.5 )     (21.3 )     (34.6 )      (7.7 )     (10.0 )
                                                         

Income (loss) from operations

     (2.9 )     (3.5 )     (3.3 )     0.8       5.4        0.8       2.9  

Other income (expenses):

               

Interest income

     0.3       0.2       1.2       0.4       0.5        —         0.1  

Interest expense and other financial charges

     —         (0.1 )     (0.3 )     (0.5 )     (1.7 )      (0.4 )     (0.4 )

Foreign currency (loss) gain

     (0.1 )     0.2       0.2       0.3       (0.4 )      0.1       (0.4 )

Other expenses, net

     —         —         —         (0.3 )     (1.5 )      (0.1 )     (0.3 )
                                                         

Net income (loss) before income and asset tax and cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

     (2.7 )     (3.2 )     (2.2 )     0.7       2.3        0.5       1.9  
                                                         

Income and asset tax (expense) benefit

     —         —         —         1.4       (1.2 )      (0.4 )     (0.9 )
                                                         

Net income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle and gain from discontinued operations

     (2.7 )     (3.2 )     (2.2 )     2.0       1.1        0.1       1.0  
                                                         

Gain from discontinued operations

     0.2       —         —         —         —          —         —    
                                                         

Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

     —         —         —         0.3       —          —         —    
                                                         

Net income (loss)

     (2.5 )     (3.2 )     (2.2 )     2.4       1.1        0.1       1.0  

Accretion of preferred stock

     (0.5 )     (0.5 )     (0.5 )     (0.5 )     (0.5 )      (0.1 )     (0.1 )

Net income (loss) available to common stockholders

   $ (3.0 )   $ (3.7 )   $ (2.7 )   $ 1.9     $ 0.6      $ 0.0     $ 0.9  

 

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     At December 31,          At March 31,  
(in millions, except per
share data)
   2002     2003     2004     2005     2006           

2007

(unaudited)

 

Balance sheet data:

               

Total assets

   $ 27.3     $ 24.1     $ 24.1     $ 44.4     $ 53.8        $ 57.2  

Total liabilities

     1.9       2.4       5.1       23.2       30.5          32.2  

Net assets

     25.3       21.7       19.0       21.2       23.3          25.0  

Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

     62.1       62.6       63.1       63.6       64.1          64.2  

Common stock

     0.1       0.1       0.1       0.1       0.1          0.1  

Stockholders’ deficit

   $ (36.8 )   $ (40.9 )   $ (44.1 )   $ (42.4 )   $ (40.7 )      $ (39.2 )

Earnings (loss) per share data:

               

Basic net income (loss) available to common stockholders per common share

       $ (0.21 )   $ 0.05     $ —          $ 0.02  

Diluted net income (loss) per common share

         —       $ 0.05       —            —    

Weighted average shares:

               

Basic

         12,739,980       13,065,496       13,149,139          13,375,482  

Diluted

         —         13,671,359       —            —    

 

     Year ended December 31,        

Three months
ended March 31,

(in millions)    2002    2003    2004    2005    2006           2006    2007

Other data:

                       

Number of confirmed registered users at end of period(1)

     2.5      4.0      6.5      12.2      18.2         13.5      19.7

Number of confirmed new registered users during period(2)

     1.3      1.5      2.5      5.7      6.0         1.3      1.6

Gross merchandise volume(3)

   $ 55.4    $ 164.3    $ 299.3    $ 607.7    $ 1,075.1       $ 217.8    $ 312.5

Number of successful items sold(4)

     1.4      3.1      5.1      8.4      13.8         2.8      3.9

Total payment volume(5)

     —      $ 0.1    $ 8.9    $ 38.5    $ 89.0       $ 16.5    $ 26.6

Capital expenditures

   $ 0.5    $ 0.9    $ 2.1    $ 2.0    $ 2.4       $ 0.6    $ 0.6

Depreciation and amortization

   $ 0.6    $ 0.8    $ 1.1    $ 1.6    $ 2.0       $ 0.5    $ 0.5

 

(1)   Measure of the cumulative number of users who have registered on the MercadoLibre marketplace and confirmed their registration.

 

(2)   Measure of the number of new users who have registered on the MercadoLibre marketplace and confirmed their registration.

 

(3)   Measure of the total U.S. dollar sum of all transactions completed through the MercadoLibre marketplace, excluding motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate.

 

(4)   Measure of the number of items that were sold/purchased through the MercadoLibre marketplace.

 

(5)   Measure of total U.S. dollar sum of all transactions paid for using MercadoPago.

 

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Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations

You should read the following discussion and analysis of the financial condition and results of our operations in conjunction with our “Selected financial and other data” and our audited consolidated financial statements and our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes to those statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion contains forward-looking statements reflecting our current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in the section entitled “Risk factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus.

The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations has been organized to present the following:

 

 

a brief overview of our company;

 

 

a review of our financial presentation and accounting policies, including our critical accounting policies;

 

 

a discussion of our principal trends and results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007;

 

 

a discussion of principal factors that influence our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity;

 

 

a discussion of our liquidity and capital resources, a discussion of our capital expenditures and a description of our contractual obligations; and

 

 

a discussion of the market risks that we face.

Overview

We host the largest online trading platform in Latin America focused on enabling e-commerce and its related services. Our services are designed to provide our users with mechanisms to buy, sell, pay for and collect on e-commerce transactions effectively and efficiently. With a market of over 550 million people and a region with one of the fastest-growing Internet penetration rates, we provide buyers and sellers with a robust online trading environment that fosters the development of a large and growing e-commerce community. We offer a technological and commercial solution that addresses the distinctive cultural and geographic challenges of operating an online trading platform in Latin America.

We were incorporated in Delaware in October of 1999 and introduced websites in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela by April of 2000. In order to build a critical mass of customers, we initially offered our services free of charge in all of these markets.

In May of 2000 we obtained significant financing and reached gross merchandise volume of $14.3 million. In 2001 we launched a new version of our site and brand and launched our operations in Ecuador. Our gross merchandise volume for the year ending December 31, 2001 grew to $21.3 million. Our gross merchandise volume reached $55.4 million for 2002, $164.3 million for 2003 and $299.3 million for 2004. In 2005, we acquired certain operations of DeRemate.com, Inc. and our gross merchandise volume reached $607.7 million. During 2006 we launched sites in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama, and our gross merchandise volume reached $1,075.1 million. Our gross merchandise volume was $217.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and $312.5 million for the same period in 2007.

 

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We offer our users two principal services:

 

   

The MercadoLibre marketplace : The MercadoLibre marketplace is a fully-automated, topically-arranged and user-friendly online trading service. This service permits both businesses and individuals to list items and conduct their sales and purchases online in either a fixed-price or auction-based format. Additionally, through online classified advertisements, our registered users can also list and purchase motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, real estate and services. Any Internet user can browse through the various products and services that are listed on our website and register with MercadoLibre to list, bid for and purchase items and services.

 

   

The MercadoPago online payments solution : To complement the MercadoLibre marketplace, we developed MercadoPago, an integrated online payments solution. MercadoPago is designed to facilitate transactions on the MercadoLibre marketplace by providing a mechanism that allows our users to securely, easily and promptly send and receive payments online.

During the three months ended March 31, 2007, visitors to our website were able to browse an average of over 2.9 million total listings per month, organized by country, in over 2,000 different product categories. We believe that we have achieved a critical mass of active buyers, sellers and product listings in most of the countries where we operate and that our business can be readily scaled to handle increases in our user base and transaction volume. At March 31, 2007, we had 19.7 million total confirmed registered MercadoLibre users. For 2006, we had 1.7 million unique sellers, 4.4 million unique buyers and 13.8 million successful items sold. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, we had 0.6 million unique sellers, 1.7 million unique buyers and 3.9 million successful items sold.

For 2006, our annual net revenues were $52.1 million. Of those $52.1 million in revenues approximately 85.9% were attributable to MercadoLibre marketplace listing, optional feature, final value and advertisement fees. The remaining 14.1% of revenues were attributable to MercadoPago fees. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, our net revenues were $16.5 million, of which approximately 86.2% were attributable to MercadoLibre marketplace listing, optional feature, final value and advertisement fees. The remaining 13.8% of revenues were attributable to MercadoPago fees.

Although we expect to discuss long-term trends in our business, we do not plan to give earnings guidance in the traditional sense. We believe that uncertain conditions make the forecasting of near-term results difficult. Further, we expect to make decisions focused primarily on the long-term welfare of our company and believe focusing on short term earnings does not best serve the interests of our stockholders. We believe that execution of key strategic initiatives as well as our expectations for long-term growth in our markets will best create stockholder value.

We, therefore, encourage potential investors to consider this strategy before making an investment in our common stock. A long-term focus may make it more difficult for industry analysts and the market to evaluate the value of our company, which could reduce the value of our common stock or permit competitors to grow stronger than us with short term tactics.

 

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Description of line items

Net revenues

We recognize revenues in each of our reporting segments. The MercadoLibre marketplace segments include Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and other countries (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela). The MercadoPago segment includes our regional payments platform consisting of our MercadoPago business.

We generate revenues from the MercadoLibre marketplace segment from:

 

 

listing fees;

 

 

optional feature fees;

 

 

final value fees; and

 

 

online advertising.

The MercadoLibre marketplace business generated 95.8% of our net revenues for 2004, 88.8% for 2005 and 85.9% for 2006 and 86.2% for the three months ended March 31, 2007. Of these revenues, during the year 2006, 57.2% were generated in Brazil, 15.7% in Argentina, 13.9% in Mexico, and the remainder, or 13.3%, in Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Uruguay. For the three months ended March 31, 2006, 60.8% of marketplace revenues were generated in Brazil, 13.8% in Argentina, 14.1% in Mexico, and the remainder, or 11.3%, in Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Uruguay. For that same period in 2007, 54.2% of marketplace revenues were generated in Brazil, 15.6% in Argentina, 15.4% in Mexico and 14.8% in the remaining countries (which in 2007 also includes Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic).

The breakdown for these marketplace revenues by type of fee for 2006 was 29.9% listing fees, 28.3% optional feature fees, 40.7% final value fees and 1.1% sale of advertising. The breakdown of marketplace revenues by type of fee for the three months ended March 31, 2007 was 28.9% listing fees, 29.0% optional feature fees, 41.4% final value fees and 0.7% sale of advertising.

The following table sets forth the percentage of consolidated net revenues by country from our MercadoLibre marketplace:

 

       Year ended
December 31,
  

Three months ended
March 31,

(% of total MercadoLibre marketplace net revenues)    2004    2005    2006    2006
(unaudited)
   2007
(unaudited)

Brazil

   60.2%    61.2%    57.2%    60.8%    54.2%

Argentina

   22.3    18.7    15.7    13.8    15.6

Mexico

   8.8    11.1    13.9    14.1    15.4

Other

   8.7    9.0    13.3    11.3    14.8

We generate revenues from our MercadoPago payments segment by charging buyers that use MercadoPago an average commission of approximately 8.0% of the sales price of a listed item which we recognize once the transaction is completed.

Revenues generated by our MercadoPago business represented 4.2% of our total net revenues for 2004, 11.2% for 2005 and 14.1% for 2006. For the three months ended March 31, 2006, the

 

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MercadoPago business represented 12.8% of our total net revenues, and 13.8% for the same period in 2007. These revenues were attributable to commissions charged to buyers for the use of MercadoPago.

We have a highly fragmented revenue base of customers given the large numbers of sellers and buyers who use our platforms. For 2004, 2005 and 2006, and the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, no single customer accounted for more than 1.0% of our net revenues in our MercadoLibre marketplace business or our MercadoPago payments business.

Our MercadoLibre marketplace is available in 12 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela), and MercadoPago is available in four countries (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela). The functional currency in each country’s operations is the local currency. Therefore, our net revenues are generated in multiple foreign currencies and then translated into U.S. dollars at the average monthly exchange rate.

The following table sets forth the percentage of consolidated net revenues by country from both our MercadoLibre marketplace and MercadoPago businesses.

 

       Year ended December 31,   

Three months ended
March 31,

(% of total consolidated net revenues)    2004    2005    2006    2006
(unaudited)
   2007
(unaudited)

Brazil

   60.4%    61.9%    59.1%    61.9%    57.0%

Argentina

   22.4    18.2    15.1    13.5    14.7

Mexico

   8.8    11.6    13.8    14.2    14.8

Other

   8.3    8.3    12.1    10.3    13.5

Our subsidiaries in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia are subject to certain taxes on revenues which are classified as costs of net revenues. These taxes represented 5.6% of net revenues for the full year 2006, as well as for the three months ended March 31, 2007.

Cost of net revenues

Cost of net revenues primarily represents bank and credit card processing charges for transactions and fees paid with credit cards and other payment methods, certain taxes on revenues, compensation for customer support personnel, ISP connectivity charges, and hosting and site operations fees.

Product and technology development

Our product and technology development related expenses consist primarily of depreciation and amortization costs related to product and technology development, compensation for our engineering and web-development staff, telecommunications costs and payments to third-party suppliers who provide technology maintenance services to our company.

Sales and marketing

Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of marketing costs for our platforms through online and offline advertising, bad debt charges, the salaries of employees involved in these activities, public relations costs, promotional activities for our users and depreciation and amortization costs.

 

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We carry out the vast majority of our marketing efforts on the Internet, where we invest in deals with portals, search engines and other sites in order to attract Internet users to the MercadoLibre marketplace and turn them into confirmed registered users and active traders on our platform. Additionally, we invest a portion of our marketing budget on cable television advertising, in order to improve our brand awareness and to complement our online efforts.

We also work intensively on attracting, developing and growing sellers through our supply efforts. We have dedicated professionals in most of our operations that work with sellers, through trade show participation, seminars and meetings to provide them with important tools and skills to become effective sellers on our platform.

General and administrative

Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries for management and administrative staff, fees and expenses for legal, accounting and other professional services, office space, travel and business expenses, as well as depreciation and amortization costs. General and administrative expenses include the costs of the following areas of our company: general management, finance, administration, accounting, legal and human resources.

Other income (expenses)

Other income (expenses) consists of interest expense and other financial charges, interest income derived primarily from our short-term investments and cash equivalents, foreign currency gains or losses, the effect of changes in the fair value of outstanding warrants, and other non-operating results.

Income / asset tax

We are subject to federal and state taxes in the United States, as well as foreign taxes in the multiple jurisdictions where we operate. Our tax obligations consist of current and deferred income taxes and asset taxes incurred in these jurisdictions. We account for income taxes following the liability method of accounting. Therefore, our income tax expense consists of taxes currently payable, if any (given that in certain jurisdictions we still have net operating loss carry-forwards), plus the change during the period in our deferred tax assets and liabilities.

 

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The following table summarizes the composition of our income/asset taxes for the years ending December 31, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007.

 

       Year ended December 31,    

Three months ended
March 31,

(in millions)    2004    2005     2006     2006
(unaudited)
    2007
(unaudited)

Income tax –current

           

Federal

   $ —      $ —       $ —       $ —       $ —  

Foreign

     —        0.8       1.9       0.4       0.8
                                     

Total

     —        0.8       1.9       0.4       0.8

Income tax -deferred

           

Federal

     —        —         —         —         —  

Foreign

     —        (2.2 )     (0.7 )     (0.1 )     0.1
                                     

Total

     —        (2.2 )     (0.7 )     (0.1 )     0.1
                                     

Total current and deferred

     —        (1.4 )     1.2       0.3       0.9

Asset tax

           

Federal

     —        —         —         —         —  

Foreign

     —        0.1       0.1       —         —  
                                     

Total

     —        0.1       0.1       —         —  

Total income and asset tax expense (benefit)

     —      $ (1.4 )   $ 1.2     $ 0.4     $ 0.9

Critical accounting policies and estimates

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related notes requires us to make judgments, estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We have based our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our management has discussed the development, selection and disclosure of these estimates with our board of directors. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

An accounting policy is considered to be critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the estimate is made, and if different estimates that reasonably could have been used, or changes in the accounting estimates that are reasonably likely to occur periodically, could materially impact the consolidated financial statements. We believe that the following critical accounting policies reflect the more significant estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. You should read the following descriptions of critical accounting policies, judgments and estimates in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and other disclosures filed in with this prospectus.

Impairment of long-lived assets and goodwill

We review long-lived assets for impairments whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to undiscounted future net cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If such assets are considered to be

 

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impaired on this basis, the impairment loss to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the assets.

Goodwill is reviewed at least annually for impairment. Impairment of goodwill is tested at the reporting unit level by comparing the reporting unit’s carrying amount, including goodwill, to the fair value of the reporting unit. The fair values of the reporting units are estimated using a combination of the income or discounted cash flows approach and the market approach, which utilizes comparable companies’ data. If the carrying amount of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value, goodwill is considered impaired and a second step is performed to measure the amount of impairment loss, if any. No impairments were recognized during the reporting periods.

We believe that the accounting estimate related to impairment of long lived assets and goodwill is a critical accounting estimate because it is highly susceptible to change from period to period. This is because: (1) it requires management to make assumptions about future interest rates, sales and costs; and (2) the impact that recognizing an impairment would have on the assets reported on our balance sheet as well as our net income would be material. Management’s assumptions about future sales and future costs require significant judgment.

Provision for doubtful accounts

We are exposed to losses due to uncollectable accounts and credits to sellers. Provisions for these items represent our estimate of future losses based on our historical experience. Our provision for doubtful accounts amounts to $2.9 million at December 31, 2005, $4.6 million at December 31, 2006 and $5.3 million at March 31, 2007. The provision for doubtful accounts is recorded as a charge to sales and marketing expenses.

The following table illustrates our bad debt charges as a percentage of net revenues for 2004, 2005, and 2006, and for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007:

 

       Year ended December 31,   

Three months ended
March 31,

(in millions, except percentages)    2004    2005    2006    2006
(unaudited)
   2007
(unaudited)

Net revenues

   $ 12.7    $ 28.2    $ 52.1    $ 11.0    $ 16.5

Bad debt charges

     1.6      3.4      6.2      1.5      1.7

Bad debt charges as a percentage of net revenues

     12.4%      12.1%      11.9%      13.3%      10.2%

Historically, our actual losses have been consistent with our charges. However, future changes in trends could result in a material impact to future consolidated statements of income and cash flows.

Legal Contingencies

In connection with certain pending litigation and other claims, we have estimated the range of probable loss and provided for such losses through charges to our consolidated statement of income. These estimates have been based on our assessment of the facts and circumstances at each balance sheet date and are subject to change based upon new information and future events.

From time to time, we are involved in disputes that arise in the ordinary course of business, and we do not expect this trend to change in the future. We are currently involved in certain legal proceedings as discussed in “Business—Legal Proceedings,” in Note 14 to our consolidated

 

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financial statements and in Note 7 to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements. We believe that we have meritorious defenses to the claims against us, and we will defend ourselves vigorously. However, even if successful, our defense could be costly and could divert management’s time. If the plaintiffs were to prevail on certain claims, we might be forced to pay damages or modify our business practices. Any of these results could materially harm our business and could result in a material adverse impact on the financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Income taxes

We are required to recognize a provision for income taxes based upon the taxable income and temporary differences for each of the tax jurisdictions in which we operate. This process requires a calculation of taxes payable under currently enacted tax laws in each jurisdiction and an analysis of temporary differences between the book and tax bases of our assets and liabilities, including various accruals, allowances, depreciation and amortization. The tax effect of these temporary differences and the estimated tax benefit from our tax net operating losses are reported as deferred tax assets and liabilities in our consolidated balance sheet. We also assess the likelihood that our net deferred tax assets will be realized from future taxable income. To the extent we believe that it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax asset will not be realized, we establish a valuation allowance. At March 31, 2007, we had a valuation allowance on certain foreign net operating losses based on our assessment that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will not be realized. To the extent we establish a valuation allowance or change the allowance in a period, we reflect the change with a corresponding increase or decrease in our tax provision in our consolidated statement of income.

The following table sets forth the effective tax rates for 2004, 2005, and 2006, and for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007:

 

       Year ended
December 31,
   

Three months ended
March 31,

 
(in millions, except percentages)    2004     2005     2006     2006
(unaudited)
    2007
(unaudited)
 

Income and asset tax (expense) benefit

   —       $ 1.4     $ (1.2 )   $ (0.4 )   $ (0.9 )

As a percentage of income before income and asset tax

   (1.6 )%     205.8 %     (53.7 )%     (76.1 )%     (47.1 )%

Historically, these provisions have adequately provided for our actual income tax liabilities. Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates, by changes in the valuations of our deferred tax assets or liabilities, or by changes or interpretations in tax laws, regulations or accounting principles.

Recent acquisitions

In November of 2005, we acquired certain operations of a regional competitor in online trading, DeRemate.com Inc., including all of its operations in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela and the majority of shares of its subsidiaries (except for its Argentine and Chilean subsidiaries, which continue to operate under the control of certain previous stockholders of DeRemate.com Inc.), for an aggregate purchase price of $12.1 million, net of cash and cash equivalents acquired. This acquisition increased our user base by approximately 1.3 million confirmed registered users and solidified our market leadership position in Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay.

 

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Separate audited combined statements of operations, changes in net investment and cash flows of the acquired business for the period from January 1, 2005 to October 31, 2005 is included elsewhere in this prospectus in compliance with Rule 3-05 of Regulation S-X.

Results of operations

The following table sets forth, for the periods presented, certain data from our consolidated statement of operations. This information should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes to those statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

      Year ended December 31,    

Three months ended
March 31,

 
(in millions)   2004     2005     2006     2006
(unaudited)
    2007
(unaudited)
 

Statement of operations data:

         

Net revenues

  $ 12.7     $ 28.2     $ 52.1     $ 11.0     $ 16.5  

Cost of net revenues

    (2.5 )     (6.1 )     (12.1 )     (2.5 )     (3.6 )
                                       

Gross profit

    10.2       22.1       40.0       8.5       12.9  

Operating expenses:

         

Product and technology development

    (1.3 )     (2.2 )     (3.1 )     (0.7 )     (1.0 )

Sales and marketing

    (9.1 )     (14.7 )     (23.4 )     (5.1 )     (6.3 )

General and administrative

    (3.1 )     (4.4 )     (8.2 )     (1.9 )     (2.7 )
                                       

Total operating expenses

    (13.5 )     (21.3 )     (34.6 )     (7.7 )     (10.0 )
                                       

Income (loss) from operations

    (3.3 )     0.8       5.4       0.8       2.9  
                                       

Other income (expenses):

         

Interest income

    1.2       0.4       0.5       —         0.1  

Interest expense and other financial charges

    (0.3 )     (0.5 )     (1.7 )     (0.4 )     (0.4 )

Foreign currency (loss) gain

    0.2       0.3       (0.4 )     0.1       (0.4 )

Other expenses, net

    —         (0.3 )     (1.5 )     (0.1 )     (0.3 )

Net income (loss) before income and asset tax and cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

    (2.2 )     0.7       2.3       0.5       1.9  

Income and asset tax (expense) benefit

    —         1.4       (1.2 )     (0.4 )     (0.9 )
                                       

Net income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

    (2.2 )     2.0       1.1       0.1       1.0  
                                       

Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

    —         0.3       —         —         —    
                                       

Net income (loss)

    (2.2 )     2.4       1.1       0.1       1.0  
                                       

Accretion of preferred stock

    (0.5 )     (0.5 )     (0.5 )     (0.1 )     (0.1 )
                                       

Net income (loss) available to common stockholders

  $ (2.7 )   $ 1.9     $ 0.6     $ —       $ 0.9  

 

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       Year ended December 31,     

Three months ended
March 31,

 
(% of net revenues)    2004     2005     2006      2006
(unaudited)
    2007
(unaudited)
 

Statement of operations data:

           

Net revenues

   100.0%     100.0%     100.0%      100.0%     100.0%  

Cost of net revenues

   (19.7 )   (21.7 )   (23.2 )    (22.9 )   (21.7 )
                               

Gross profit

   80.3     78.3     76.8      77.1     78.3  

Operating expenses:

           

Product and technology development

   (10.5 )   (7.7 )   (5.9 )    (6.4 )   (5.9 )

Sales and marketing

   (72.1 )   (52.2 )   (44.9 )    (46.0 )   (38.4 )

General and administrative

   (24.2 )   (15.5 )   (15.7 )    (17.5 )   (16.3 )
                               

Total operating expenses

   (106.8 )   (75.4 )   (66.4 )    (69.9 )   (60.5 )
                               

Income (loss) from operations

   (26.4 )   2.9     10.4      7.2     17.7  

Other income (expenses):

           

Interest income

   9.8     1.2     1.0      0.4     0.6  

Interest expense and other financial charges

   (2.6 )   (1.6 )   (3.3 )    (3.6 )   (2.7 )

Foreign currency (loss) gain

   1.7     0.9     (0.8 )    1.0     (2.5 )

Other expenses, net

   (0.2 )   (1.0 )   (2.8 )    (0.7 )   (1.7 )

Net income (loss) before income and asset tax and cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

   (17.7 )   2.4     4.4      4.2     11.4  

Income and asset tax (expense) benefit

   0.3     4.8     (2.4 )    (3.2 )   (5.4 )
                               

Net income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

   (17.4 )   7.2     2.1      1.0     6.0  
           

Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

   —       1.1     —        —       —    
                               

Net income (loss)

   (17.4)     8.3     2.1      1.0     6.0  
                               

Accretion of preferred stock

   (3.9)     (1.8 )   (1.0 )    (1.1 )   (0.8 )
                               

Net income (loss) available to common stockholders

   (21.3)%     6.6%     1.1%      (0.1 )%   5.3%  

 

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Principal trends in results of operations

We have identified the following trends by examining our recent operating history:

 

 

Growth in net revenues from year to year .    Since inception, we have consistently generated revenue growth from our MercadoLibre marketplace and, from its launch in 2004, from MercadoPago, driven by the strong growth of our key operational metrics. From 2004 to 2005, our gross merchandise volume increased by 103.0%, our successful items increased by 64.4% and MercadoPago total payment volume increased by 332.3%. From 2005 to 2006, those growth rates were 76.9%, 63.9% and 131.2%, respectively. From the three months ended on March 31, 2006 to the same period in 2007, our gross merchandise volume increased 43.5%, our successful items increased by 39.2% and total payment volume increased by 61.3%. Our growth in net revenues was 123.1% from 2004 to 2005 and 84.3% from 2005 to 2006. Growth in net revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2007 compared to the same period in 2006 was 49.8%. As our business grows we expect the rate of increase, from year to year, of net revenues and the related operational metrics, to decline, as occurred in 2006 compared to 2005 when contrasted with 2005 compared to 2004.

 

 

High but declining gross profit margins .    Our business has generated sustained high gross profit margins over time. These gross margins were 80.3% for 2004, 78.3% for 2005, and 76.8% for 2006. This variation was attributable to the lower gross profit margins of our MercadoPago business, which for 2005 and 2006 experienced a faster rate of increase than our MercadoLibre marketplace business. Based on these past trends, we expect that cost of net revenues could continue to increase as a percentage of net revenues as revenues related to MercadoPago grow faster relative to MercadoLibre marketplace revenues. However, we may be able to partially offset this increase in costs with increased economies of scale in customer service, ISP connectivity and site operations, as well as improved economic terms obtained from payment processors, as was the case in the three months ended March 31, 2007 in which gross profit margins improved to 78.3% from 77.1% for the same period in 2006, even though net revenues from MercadoPago for these periods as a percentage of net revenues increased from 12.8% to 13.8%. If we are able to continue to carry out this partial offset successfully, we should sustain high consolidated gross profit margins.

 

 

Improving operating income margins .    We have generated and expect to continue to generate economies of scale in operating expenses. For 2004 and 2005, operating expenses increased at a significantly lower rate than our net revenues. For the past three years, our income from operations as a percentage of net revenues has improved from a loss of 26.4% for 2004, to a gain of 2.9% for 2005, a gain of 10.4% for 2006 and a gain of 17.7% for the three months ended March 31, 2007, mostly as a result of the impact of these economies of scale, and despite declining gross operating margins between 2004 and 2006. We anticipate that our operating cost structure will continue to grow in absolute terms, but at a slower rate than net revenues, leading to improving operating margins.

Three months ended March 31, 2007 compared to three months ended March 31, 2006

Net revenues

Net revenues were $16.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007, an increase of $5.5 million, or 49.8%, from net revenues of $11.0 million for the same period in 2006. This increase was attributable to a 48.1% increase in revenues derived from our MercadoLibre marketplace, from $9.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2006 to $14.2 million for the same

 

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period in 2007, and to a 60.9% increase in revenues derived from MercadoPago, from $1.4 million to $2.3 million. Growth in MercadoLibre marketplace revenues resulted principally from a 43.5% increase in the gross merchandise volume transacted through our platform. The growth in MercadoPago revenues resulted principally from a 61.3% increase in the total payments completed on our MercadoPago payments platform. The use of MercadoPago increased to 8.5% of our gross merchandise volume for the three months ended March 31, 2007 from 7.6% for the same period in 2006.

The $5.5 million growth in net revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2007, by country, was primarily a result of an increase of $2.6 million, or 38.0% in net revenues in Brazil, of $0.9 million, or 62.8% in Argentina, and $0.9 million, or 55.3% in Mexico. All other countries combined grew by $1.1 million or 95.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2007 as compared to the same period in 2006.

Cost of net revenues

Cost of net revenues was $3.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007, an increase of $1.1 million, or 42.1%, from cost of net revenues of $2.5 million for the same period in 2006. Cost of net revenues represented 21.7% of net revenues for the three month period ended March 31, 2007 and 22.9% of net revenues for the same period in 2006.

This increase was primarily attributable to costs relating to our in-house customer support operations, which grew in the amount of $0.4 million, an increase of 70.9% compared to the three months ended March 31, 2006, as we invested in improvement of services and trust and safety initiatives. Billing costs and collections fees from processing charges for payments made with credit cards and other payment methods increased by $0.3 million, or 26.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2007 compared to the same period in 2006. Additionally, taxes on our net revenues increased by $0.3 million, or 43.6%. These taxes represented 5.6% of net revenues during the three months ended March 31, 2007.

Product and technology development

Product and technology development expenses were $1.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007, an increase of $0.3 million, or 38.0%, from $0.7 million for the same period in 2006. Product and technology development expenses were 5.9% of net revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 6.4% for the same period in 2006.

The growth in product and technology development expenses during the three months ended March 31, 2007 was primarily attributable to an increase in compensation costs in the amount of $0.2 million, 70.5% higher than the same period in 2006, for additional engineers to implement planned upgrades and new features to our platform, as well as increased compensation to retain staff. We also increased other expenses during the three months ended March 31, 2007, including depreciation and amortization costs, maintenance and telecommunications by $0.1 million, or 21.0% compared to the same period in 2006.

Sales and marketing

Sales and marketing expenses were $6.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007, an increase of $1.3 million, or 24.9%, from $5.1 million for the same period in 2006. Sales and marketing expenses represented 38.4% of our net revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 46.0% for the same period in 2006.

 

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The growth in sales and marketing expenses resulted primarily from our increased expenditures in online advertising programs in the amount of $1.0 million, a 40.1% increase over the three months ended March 31, 2006. Online advertising represented 20.5% of our net revenues in the three months period ended March 31, 2007. Bad debt charges increased $0.2 million, or 14.5%. Sales and marketing expenses also grew due to an increase in compensation costs in the amount of $0.1 million, or 21.0%, driven by additional headcount and higher salaries to retain talent.

General and administrative

Our general and administrative expenses were $2.7 million for the three months period ended March 31, 2007, an increase of $0.8 million, or 39.1%, from general and administrative expenses of $1.9 million for the same period in 2006. As a percentage of net revenues, our general and administrative expenses were 16.3% for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 17.5% for the same period in 2006. The major components that drove our growth over the comparable period were $0.4 million in increased compensation costs, a 39.7% rate of growth, attributable to additional employees to support our growing business and higher salaries to retain talent, and office expenses that grew $0.1 million, or 69.3%, as we expanded into larger facilities to accommodate increases in headcount.

Other income (expenses)

Our other expenses were $1.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007, an increase of $0.7 million from other expenses of $0.3 million for the same period in 2006. This increase was primarily a result of an increase in foreign currency losses of $0.5 million. Foreign currency losses were $0.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and were a gain of $0.1 million for the same period in 2006.

Income and asset tax

Our reported income and asset tax expense for the three months ended March 31,2007 was $0.9 million, an increase of $0.5 million, or 152.5%, from a reported expense of $0.4 million for the same period in 2006. Our effective tax rate as a percentage of income before income and asset tax was 47.1% for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 76.1% for the same period in 2006, which reflects the blended tax rate plus the effect of certain non-deductible expenses.

Year ended December 31, 2006 compared to year ended December 31, 2005

Net revenues

Net revenues were $52.1 million for 2006, an increase of $23.8 million, or 84.3%, from net revenues of $28.2 million for 2005. This increase was attributable to a 78.4% increase in revenues derived from our MercadoLibre marketplace, from $25.1 million for 2005 to $44.7 million for 2006, and to a 130.9% increase in revenues derived from MercadoPago, from $3.2 million to $7.3 million. Growth in MercadoLibre marketplace revenues resulted principally from a 76.9% increase in the gross merchandise volume transacted through our platform. The growth in MercadoPago revenues resulted principally from a 131.2% increase in the total payments completed on our MercadoPago payments platform. The use of MercadoPago increased to 8.3% of our gross merchandise volume for 2006 from 6.3% for 2005.

The $23.8 million growth in net revenues for 2006, by country, was primarily a result of an increase of $13.3 million, or 75.9% in net revenues in Brazil, of $3.9 million, or 119.7% in Mexico, and $2.7 million, or 52.1% in Argentina. All other countries combined grew by $3.9 million or 168.2% for 2006 as compared to 2005.

 

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Cost of net revenues

Cost of net revenues was $12.1 million for 2006, an increase of $5.9 million, or 96.9%, from cost of net revenues of $6.1 million for 2005. Cost of net revenues represented 23.2% of net revenues for 2006 and 21.7% of net revenues for 2005.

This increase was primarily attributable to additional billing costs and collections fees from processing charges for payments made with credit cards and other payment methods. These billing and collections fees increased by $2.6 million, or 117.2% for 2006 compared to 2005. Billing and collections charges tend to increase at about the same pace as net revenues, since most of the associated costs grow with our business. However, since they represent a higher percentage of revenues for MercadoPago than for the MercadoLibre marketplace, and as MercadoPago’s net revenues grew at a faster rate than the MercadoLibre marketplace, these collection fees as a percentage of net revenues increased slightly. Taxes on our net revenues increased by $1.3 million, or 83.1%. These taxes represented 5.6% of net revenues in 2006. We also increased expenditures in our in-house customer support operations in the amount of $1.7 million, an increase of 119.0% compared to 2005, as we invested in improved service, initiatives to combat fraud, illegal items and fee evasion, and upgraded the pay scale of customer service personnel in order to retain and attract top level customer service representatives.

Product and technology development

Product and technology development expenses were $3.1 million for 2006, an increase of $0.9 million, or 40.3%, from $2.2 million for 2005. Product and technology development expenses were 5.9% of net revenues for 2006 and 7.7% for 2005.

The growth in product and technology development expenses was primarily attributable to an increase in compensation costs in the amount of $0.5 million, 80.3% higher than 2005, for additional engineers to implement planned upgrades and new features to our platform, as well as increased compensation to retain staff, and an increase in depreciation and amortization expenses related to product and technology development of $0.3 million, or 20.7% compared to 2005.

Sales and marketing

Sales and marketing expenses were $23.4 million for 2006, an increase of $8.6 million, or 58.6%, from $14.7 million for 2005. Sales and marketing expenses represented 44.9% of our net revenues for 2006 and 52.2% of net revenues for 2005.

The growth in sales and marketing expenses resulted primarily from our increased expenditures in online advertising programs in the amount of $3.6 million, a 43.4% increase over 2005. Online advertising represented 22.7% of our net revenues in 2006. Bad debt charges also increased $2.8 million, or 81.6%. Despite this growth in absolute value, bad debt charges as a percentage of net revenues decreased to 11.9% for 2006, from 12.1% for 2005. In addition, these expenses also grew due to an additional $1.1 million, or 111.5% increase, in expenditures in our cable television advertising campaign and offline promotional activities, and an increase in compensation costs in the amount of $0.8 million, or 49.3%, driven by additional headcount and higher salaries to retain talent.

 

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General and administrative

Our general and administrative expenses were $8.2 million for 2006, an increase of $3.8 million, or 86.1%, from general and administrative expenses of $4.4 million for 2005. As a percentage of net revenues, our general and administrative expenses were 15.7% for 2006 and 15.5% for 2005. The major components that drove our growth over the comparable period were $1.6 million in increased compensation costs, a 66.4% rate of growth, attributable to additional employees to support our growing business and higher salaries to retain talent, and fees and expenses for legal, audit and other professional services that grew $1.0 million, or 112.4%.

Other income (expenses)

Our other expenses were $3.1 million for 2006, an increase of $2.9 million from other expenses of $0.1 million for 2005. This increase was primarily a result of an increase in interest expenses of $1.3 million relating mainly to our loan from eBay, an increase in other expenses, net, of $1.2 million, resulting mainly from the change in fair value of our outstanding warrants, and an increase in foreign currency losses of $0.6 million.

Income and asset tax

Our reported income and asset tax expense for 2006 was $1.2 million compared to a reported benefit of $1.4 million for 2005. Our blended tax rate as a percentage of income before income and asset tax was 38.0% for 2006 and 48.0% for 2005. However, as a result of the effect of permanent differences, our effective tax rate was approximately 53.7% (expense) for 2006 and 205.8% (benefit) for 2005. The variation in the effective tax rate for these periods reflects the taxes payable plus the change during the period in our deferred tax assets and liabilities. During 2006, we recognized a deferred income tax benefit of $0.7 million, and of $2.2 million during 2005, mainly as a result of a partial reversal of the valuation allowance recognized over our deferred tax asset position.

Year ended December 31, 2005 compared to year ended December 31, 2004

Net revenues

Net revenues were $28.2 million for 2005, an increase of $15.6 million, or 123.1%, from net revenues of $12.7 million for 2004. This increase was attributable to a 106.7% increase in revenues derived from our MercadoLibre marketplace, from $12.1 million for 2004 to $25.1 million for 2005, and a 495.8% increase in revenues derived from MercadoPago, from $0.5 million for 2004 to $3.2 million for 2005. Growth in MercadoLibre marketplace revenues was mainly a result of a 103.0% increase in gross merchandise volume transacted through our platform. The growth in MercadoPago revenues was mainly a result of a 332.3% increase in the total payments volume completed on our MercadoPago payments platform. The use of MercadoPago increased to 6.3% of our gross merchandise volume for 2005, from 3.0% for 2004.

Cost of net revenues

Cost of net revenues was $6.1 million for 2005, an increase of $3.6 million, or 146.6%, from cost of net revenues of $2.5 million for 2004. Our cost of net revenues represented 21.7% of net revenues for 2005 and 19.7% of net revenues for 2004.

 

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The growth in our cost of net revenues for 2005 was primarily attributable to additional billing costs and collections fees from processing charges for payments made with credit cards and other payment methods that grew $1.6 million, representing a 289.4% growth rate. Billing and collections charges tend to increase at about the same pace as net revenues, since most of the associated costs grow with our business. However, since they represent a higher percentage of revenues for MercadoPago than for the MercadoLibre marketplace, and as MercadoPago’s net revenues grew at a faster rate than the MercadoLibre marketplace, these collection fees as a percentage of net revenues increased slightly. Taxes on our net revenues increased by $0.9 million, or 141.7%. These taxes represented 5.7% of net revenues for 2005. In addition, expenditures in our in-house customer support operations increased by $0.8 million, or 134.5% as we invested in improved services and controls.

Product and technology development

Our product and technology development expenses were $2.2 million for 2005, an increase of $0.9 million, or 64.4%, from product and technology development expenses of $1.3 million for 2004. Product and technology development expenses were 7.7% of net revenues for 2005 and 10.5% for 2004. The increase was primarily attributable to growth in depreciation and amortization in the amount of $0.5 million, or 57.2%. Additionally, compensation costs increased in the amount of $0.2 million, or 57.8% for additional employees, as well as increased compensation to retain our product and technology development staff.

Sales and marketing

Our sales and marketing expenses were $14.7 million for 2005, an increase of $5.6 million, or 61.3%, from $9.1 million for 2004. Sales and marketing expenses represented 52.2% of net revenues for 2005 and 72.1% of net revenues for 2004.

The growth in our sales and marketing expenses resulted primarily from our increased expenditures in online advertising programs, where we spend the majority of our sales and marketing budget, in the amount of $2.2 million, a 35.6% growth rate. Online advertising represented 29.2% of net revenues for 2005. These expenses also grew $1.9 million, or 117.7%, from higher bad debt charges. However, bad debt as a percentage of net revenues for 2005 decreased to 12.1% from 12.4% for 2004. Offline advertising activities grew $1.0 million due to our first cable television advertising campaign and offline promotional activities, and compensation costs increased $0.5 million, or 42.8%, driven by additional headcount and higher salaries to retain talent.

General and administrative

Our general and administrative expenses were $4.4 million for 2005, an increase of $1.3 million, or 43.0%, from general and administrative expenses of $3.1 million for 2004. However, our general and administrative expenses decreased as a percentage of net revenues to 15.5% for 2005 from 24.2% for 2004.

The major components that drove growth in absolute terms over the comparable period were $1.0 million in increased compensation costs attributable to additional employees to support our growing business and higher salaries to retain talent, an increase that represented a 71.2% growth over 2004.

 

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Other income (expense)

Other expense was $0.1 million for 2005, a decrease of $1.3 million from a $1.1 million income for 2004. This decrease was primarily attributable to a reduction of $0.9 million in interest income as we had recorded a gain on the sale of short-term investments for 2004.

Income / asset tax

Our reported income and asset tax for 2005 was a benefit of $1.4 million compared to an immaterial charge for 2004. The reported taxes for 2005 reflect the taxes payable plus the change during the period in our deferred tax assets and liabilities. During 2005, we recognized a deferred income tax benefit of $2.2 million as a result of a partial reversal of the valuation allowance recognized over our deferred tax asset position. Prior to 2005, our valuation allowance covered all our deferred tax asset position.

Factors affecting results of operations and financial condition

Our prospects must be considered in light of the risks, uncertainties, expenses and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in their early stages of development, particularly companies in new and rapidly evolving markets such as online commerce and emerging markets like Latin America. To address these risks and uncertainties, we must, among other things, maintain and increase the number of our confirmed registered users, items listed on our service and completed transactions, maintain and enhance our brand, implement and execute our business and marketing strategy successfully, continue to develop and upgrade our technology and information-processing systems, continue to enhance the MercadoLibre service to meet the needs of a changing market, provide superior customer service, respond to competitive developments, and attract, integrate, retain and motivate qualified personnel. Accordingly, we intend to invest heavily in marketing and promotion, site development, technology and operating infrastructure development and personnel. We cannot, however, assure you that we will be successful in accomplishing all of these goals, and the failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Although we have experienced significant revenue growth and significant growth in the number of our confirmed registered users and items listed by our users in recent periods, such growth rates are not sustainable and will decrease in the future. In view of the rapidly evolving nature of our business and our limited operating history, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our operating results are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as indications of future performance.

Our operating results have varied on an annual basis during our short operating history and may fluctuate significantly as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside our control. The following list includes factors that may affect our quarterly operating results:

 

 

continued growth of online commerce and Internet usage in Latin America;

 

 

our ability to expand our operations and adapt to rapidly changing technologies;

 

 

governmental regulation in the countries where we operate, including exchange controls;

 

 

litigation, legal liability and intellectual property rights enforcement;

 

 

system interruptions or failures;

 

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our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel;

 

 

the announcement or introduction of new sites, services and products by us or our competitors, and price competition;

 

 

reliance on third-party service providers;

 

 

increasing consumer confidence in and acceptance of the Internet and other online services for commerce and, in particular, the trading of products such as those listed on our website;

 

 

security breaches and consumer confidence in the security of transactions over the Internet;

 

 

consumer trends and popularity of certain categories of items;

 

 

our ability to attract new customers, retain existing customers and increase revenues;

 

 

seasonal fluctuations; and

 

 

political, social and economic conditions in Latin America, including foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

We believe that our results of operations are somewhat seasonal in nature. Our limited operating history, however, makes it difficult to fully assess the impact of these seasonal factors. In addition, we believe that our rapid growth may have overshadowed whatever seasonal or cyclical factors might have influenced our business to date. We cannot assure you that seasonal or cyclical variations in our operations will not become more pronounced over time or that they will not materially adversely affect our results of operations in the future.

Effects of Becoming a Public Company

After completion of this offering, we will become subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and the other rules and regulations of the SEC. We will also be subject to various other regulatory requirements, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. In addition, upon completion of this offering, we will become subject to the rules of The Nasdaq Global Market.

We are working with our independent legal, accounting and financial advisors to identify those areas in which changes should be made to our financial and management control systems to manage our growth and our obligations as a public company. These areas include corporate governance, corporate control, internal audit, disclosure controls and procedures and financial reporting and accounting systems. We have made, and will continue to make, changes in these and other areas, including our internal control over financial reporting.

In addition, compliance with reporting and other requirements applicable to public companies will create additional costs for us and will require the time and attention of management. We currently expect to incur an estimated $1 million of incremental operating expenses in our first year of being a public company and a slightly higher amount per year after that. The incremental costs are estimates, and actual incremental expenses could be materially different from these estimates. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of the additional costs we may incur, the timing of such costs or the degree of impact that our management’s attention to these matters will have on our business.

In addition, being a public company could make it more difficult or more costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or

 

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incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2008. If we or our independent registered public accounting firm determine that we have a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, we may not detect errors on a timely basis and our financial statements may be materially misstated. We will be evaluating our internal controls systems to allow management to report on, and our independent auditors to attest to, our internal controls. We will be performing the system and process evaluation and testing (and any necessary remediation) required to comply with the management certification and auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While we anticipate being able to fully implement the requirements relating to internal controls and all other aspects of Section 404 by the December 31, 2008 deadlines, we cannot be certain as to the timing of completion of our evaluation, testing and remediation actions or the impact of the same on our operations.

Liquidity and capital resources

Our main cash requirements are capital expenditures relating to technology infrastructure and software applications. We also require working capital to fund MercadoPago. Since our inception, we funded our operations primarily through contributions received from our stockholders obtained during the first two years of operations, and cash generated from our operations during the past two years. We have often funded MercadoPago by discounting credit card receivables and through cash advances derived from our MercadoLibre marketplace business. In 2005, we funded the acquisition of certain operations of DeRemate.com Inc. with a $12 million loan from eBay. The significant components of our working capital are cash equivalents, short term investments, accounts receivable, accounts payable and accrued expenses, and funds receivable from and payable to MercadoPago users. At December 31, 2006, our principal source of liquidity was $13.5 million of cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments, as well as cash generated from our operations. We believe that these sources of cash, the proceeds of this offering, plus cash to be generated from future operations will be sufficient to cover current and anticipated capital expenditures and working capital needs.

The following table presents our cash flows from operating activities, investing activities and financing activities for the three years ended December 31, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007:

 

       Year ended December 31,    

Three months ended
March 31,

 
(in millions)    2004     2005     2006     2006
(unaudited)
    2007
(unaudited)
 

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

   $ (1.5 )   $ 3.4     $ 6.2     $ (0.8 )   $ 2.4  

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

     7.4       (13.0 )     (5.2 )     (0.6 )     (3.3 )

Net cash provided by (used in) financing
activities

     —         12.0       (3.0 )     —         —    
                                        

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

     (0.2 )     (0.5 )     0.2       0.1       0.2  
                                        

Total increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

   $ 5.7     $ 2.0     $ (1.8 )   $ (1.3 )   $ (0.8 )

 

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Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

Our annual cash flow provided by operating activities was greater than net income for 2006, 2005 and 2004, due primarily to non-cash charges to earnings such as depreciation and amortization on our assets, changes in fair value of warrants, deferred income taxes and realized gains on investments. Net cash provided by operating activities was $6.2 million for 2006 and $3.4 million for 2005 compared to net cash used in operating activities of $1.5 million for 2004 as we improved the profitability of our operations. This improvement was primarily a result of increased net income, increased leverage on our operating expenses, controlled growth in our costs of sales and positive changes in our working capital accounts.

In our MercadoLibre marketplace business, accounts receivable were $2.0 million and accounts payable and accrued expenses were $5.7 million at December 31, 2006, primarily because we were able to collect from our users at a faster rate than we paid our suppliers. In our MercadoPago business, funds receivable from customers were $10.2 million and funds payable and amounts due to customers were $9.1 million at December 31, 2006. MercadoPago often requires financing through discounting credit card receivables and cash advances derived from our MercadoLibre marketplace business in order to fund working capital requirements.

During the three months ended March 31, 2007, net cash provided by our operating activities was $2.4 million compared to net cash used in operating activities of $0.8 million for the same period in 2006, principally as a result of positive changes in our working capital accounts and an increased net income.

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

Net cash used in investing activities was $5.2 million for 2006 and $13.0 million for 2005 compared to a net cash provided by investing activities of $7.4 million for 2004. For 2006, net cash provided by investing activities resulted primarily from purchases of investments with our cash and cash equivalents, as part of our financial investment strategy. During 2005, net cash provided by investing activities was heavily affected by the acquisition of the DeRemate subsidiaries for $12.1 million, net of cash and cash equivalents acquired. Net cash provided by investing activities for 2004 was primarily a result of movements of funds from investments to cash and cash equivalents, as part of our financial investment strategy. In all three years, net cash provided by investing activities was also affected by capital expenditures related to technological equipment, software licenses and to a lesser degree office equipment, in the amounts of $2.4 million for 2006, $2.0 million for 2005 and $2.1 million for 2004.

During the three months ended March 31, 2007, we used $3.3 million of net cash in investing activities as compared to $0.6 for the same period in 2006. During this period our net cash used in investing activities consisted primarily of purchase of investments (primarily debt securities and certificates of deposit) for $4.9 million which was partially offset by the sale of investments (primarily debt securities and certificates of deposit) for $2.1 million as part of our investment strategy.

We expect to continue to purchase property and equipment and we may acquire businesses for cash, which would impact our net cash provided by (used in) investing activities.

 

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Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities

Net cash used in financing activities was $3.0 million for 2006 compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $12.0 million for 2005 and negligible for 2004. Net cash used in financing activities for 2006 was attributable to a partial prepayment of principal of the loan from eBay. Net cash provided by financing activities for 2005 was attributable to the loan received from eBay to fund the acquisition of the DeRemate subsidiaries.

We had no material cash from financing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006.

In the event that we decide to pursue strategic acquisitions in the future, we may fund them with our own resources or we may choose to obtain financing from a third party.

Debt

We financed the acquisition of DeRemate with a loan from eBay, one of our stockholders, in the amount of $12.0 million, secured by our assets, including equity interests we have acquired in DeRemate. The loan bears an interest rate of 7% per year, payable in November of each year. The loan matures on the earlier of November 10, 2010, and an issuance of securities, such as this offering. At March 31, 2007, approximately $9.3 million of principal of and interest on the loan remained outstanding. Upon consummation of this offering we will repay the principal balance of the loan to eBay. Please see “Certain relationships and related transactions—Relationship with eBay” for more information.

We do not have any current plans to incur any material debt in the future.

Capital expenditures

Our expenditures in property and equipment consist primarily of purchases of hardware and software licenses necessary to maintain and update the technology of our platform, and to a lesser degree office equipment. These expenditures were $2.1 million for 2004, $2.0 million for 2005 and $2.4 million for 2006. For each of the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, our capital expenditures were $0.6 million. We anticipate continued investments in capital expenditures in the future as we strive to maintain our position in the Latin American e-commerce market.

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, the net proceeds from this offering and cash generated from operations will be sufficient to fund our operating activities, property and equipment expenditures and other obligations going forward.

Off-balance sheet arrangements

At March 31, 2007, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements or relationships with unconsolidated entities for the purpose of facilitating contractually narrow or limited purposes.

 

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Contractual obligations

We have certain fixed contractual obligations and commitments that include future estimated payments. Changes in our business needs, cancellation provisions and other factors may result in actual payments differing materially from the estimates. We cannot provide certainty regarding the timing and amount of payments. Below is a summary of the most significant assumptions used in our determination of amounts presented in the table. Contractual obligations at March 31, 2007 are as follows:

 

       Payment due by period
(In millions)    Total    Less than
1 year
   1-3
years
   3-5
years
   More than
5 years

Long-term debt obligations(1)

   $ 9.3    $ 0.3      —      $ 9.0    —  

Capital lease obligations

     —        —        —        —      —  

Operating lease obligations(2)

     1.2      0.9      0.4      —      —  

Purchase obligations

     7.0      6.9      0.1      —      —  

Other long-term liabilities reflected on our balance sheet under GAAP(3)

     1.9      —        —        1.9    —  

Total

   $ 19.4    $ 8.1    $ 0.5    $ 10.9    —  

 

(1)   Includes amounts outstanding under our loan agreement with eBay. Principal of $9.0 million is due on November 10, 2010, or upon this offering, whichever happens earlier. Interest of $0.3 million is due in 2007. We expect to repay the aggregate outstanding principal amount of the loan and accrued interest with the net proceeds of this offering.

 

(2)   Includes leases of office space.

 

(3)   Includes warrants issued in connection with our convertible debt incurred in the year 2000.

Other than the loan from eBay, we do not have any further long-term debt obligations. We have leases for office space in certain countries where we operate. These are our only operating leases. Purchase obligation amounts include minimum purchase commitments for advertising, capital expenditures (technological equipment and software licenses) and other goods and services that were entered into in the ordinary course of business. We have developed estimates to project payment obligations based upon historical trends, when available, and our anticipated future obligations. Given the significance of performance requirements within our advertising and other arrangements, actual payments could differ significantly from these estimates.

Qualitative and quantitative disclosure about market risk

We are exposed to market risks arising from our business operations. These market risks arise mainly from the possibility that changes in interest rates and the U.S. dollar exchange rate with local currencies, particularly the Brazilian real due to Brazil’s share of our revenues, may affect the value of our financial assets and liabilities.

Foreign currencies . At March 31, 2007, $9.3 million of our outstanding debt was denominated in U.S. dollars. In addition, we hold cash and cash equivalents in local currencies in our subsidiaries, and have receivables denominated in local currencies in all our operations. Our subsidiaries also incur most of their expenses in local currency. As a result, our subsidiaries use local currency as their functional currency. At March 31, 2007, the total cash and cash equivalents denominated in foreign currencies totaled $4.1 million, and accounts receivable and funds receivable from customers in foreign currencies totaled $12.4 million. To manage exchange rate risk, our treasury policy is that we transfer all cash and cash equivalents in excess of working capital requirements into dollar-denominated accounts in the United States. At March 31, 2007, these dollar-

 

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denominated cash and cash equivalents totaled $2.3 million. If the U.S. dollar weakens against foreign currencies, as occurred in many countries where we operate in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the translation of these foreign-currency-denominated transactions will result in increased net revenues, operating expenses, and net income. Similarly, our net revenues, operating expenses and net income will decrease if the U.S. dollar strengthens against foreign currencies. In 2006, 59.1% of our revenues were denominated in Brazilian reais, 15.1% in Argentine pesos and 13.8% in Mexican pesos. We have estimated that the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on our results of operations for the year 2006 relative to 2005 resulted in net higher revenues of approximately $2.7 million and an increase in aggregate cost of net revenues and operating expenses of approximately $1.6 million. This calculation was made taking the average monthly exchange rates for each month in 2005 and applying them to the corresponding months in 2006. During the three months ended March 31, 2007, 57.0% of our revenues were denominated in Brazilian reais, 14.7% in Argentine pesos and 14.8% in Mexican pesos. While we have entered in the past into transactions to hedge portions of our foreign currency translation exposure, these are expensive. It is unlikely that we will enter into such hedging in the future due to the cost and because it is not possible to accurately predict or completely eliminate the effects of our foreign currency exposure.

Interest . Our earnings are also affected by changes in interest rates. These changes can have an impact on our interest expenses derived from discounting our MercadoPago receivables. Interest fluctuations could also negatively affect certain floating rate investments that we hold. The loan that we borrowed from eBay is a fixed rate loan, and is not affected by interest rate fluctuations. At March 31, 2007, MercadoPago funds receivable from customers totaled approximately $9.9 million and we had approximately $1.4 million invested in variable interest rate instruments. We believe that the overall direct impact of significant interest rate variances would not be material and would not cause major disruptions to our operations.

Recent accounting pronouncements

Fair value measurements

In September 2006, the FASB issued SFAS No. 157, "Fair Value Measurements" ("SFAS 157"). The changes to current practice resulting from the application of SFAS 157 relate to the definition of fair value, the methods used to estimate fair value, and the requirement for expanded disclosures about estimates of fair value. The definition of fair value retains the exchange price notion in earlier definitions of fair value. SFAS 157 clarifies that the exchange price is the price in an orderly transaction between market participants to sell the asset or transfer the liability in the market in which the reporting entity would transact for the asset or liability. SFAS 157 is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007. We are currently analyzing the impact that the adoption of SFAS 157 will have on our financial position and results of operations.

Fair value of financial assets and liabilities

In February 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 159, “The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities—Including an amendment of FASB Statement No. 115.” This Statement permits entities to choose to measure many financial instruments and certain other items at fair value. The objective is to improve financial reporting by providing entities with the opportunity to mitigate volatility in reported earnings caused by measuring related assets and liabilities differently without having to apply complex hedge accounting provisions. This Statement is

 

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expected to expand the use of fair value measurement, which is consistent with the Board’s long-term measurement objectives for accounting for financial instruments. The adoption of SFAS No. 159 will not to have any material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

 

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The Latin American Internet industry

The Latin American market and Internet usage statistics

Latin America consists of South America, Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico and, with over 550 million people, represents 8.5% of the world’s population. Latin America’s combined annual gross domestic product in 2006 was estimated to be greater than $2.9 trillion, representing 6.3% of the estimated world GDP for that year and approximately 8.1% on a purchasing power parity basis. This combined GDP estimate is similar to the GDP of Germany and the United Kingdom combined, as adjusted to reflect purchasing power parity among countries.

The Internet has emerged as a global medium enabling millions of people worldwide to share information, communicate and conduct business electronically. The number of Internet users has grown worldwide from approximately 534 million at the end of 2000 to approximately 1,133 million by May 7, 2007, according to InternetWorldStats.com, a site of the Miniwatts Marketing Group. In Latin America, the number of Internet users has grown from 18.1 to 102.3 million during the same period, representing a compounded annual growth rate of 30.9% compared to 12.5% in North America.

Latin America’s approximately 102.3 million Internet users represent 9.0% of the world’s Internet user population. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, our most significant contributors to revenues, have approximately 65.3 million Internet users combined, which represent approximately 63.8% of Latin America’s Internet population. Estimates for Internet penetration in Latin America range from a high of 42.4% for Chile and 34.0% for Argentina to 17.2% for Brazil and 6.5% for Panama, with an average penetration of approximately 18.4%, as compared to 69.9% for the United States.

The following table shows the increase in Internet usage worldwide and the percentage of Internet users by region at June 10, 2007.

 

Region    Population
in millions
   % of world
population
   Internet
users in
millions
   Penetration
rate
   % of users
worldwide
   Increase in number
of users Dec. 2000-
June. 2007

Africa

   933.4    14.2%    33.4    3.6%    2.9%    640.3%

Asia

   3,712.5    56.5    409.4    11.0    36.0    258.2

Europe

   809.6    12.3    319.1    39.4    28.2    203.6

Latin America

   556.6    8.5    102.3    18.4    9.0    466.2

Middle East

   193.5    2.9    19.4    10.0    1.7    491.4

North America

   334.5    5.1    231.0    69.0    20.4    113.7

Oceania

   34.5    0.5    18.8    54.4    1.7    146.2
    

World total

   6,574.7    100.0%    1,133.4    17.2%    100.0%    214.0%

 

Source:   InternetWorldStats.com.

 

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The following table shows a ranking of the 12 countries with the highest number of Internet users in Latin America and the corresponding penetration rates at May 7, 2007:

 

       Country   

Number of

Internet users

in millions

   % of
population

1

   Brazil    32.1    17.2%

2

   Mexico    20.2    19.0

3

   Argentina    13.0    34.0

4

   Chile    6.7    42.4

5

   Colombia    6.7    15.8

6

   Peru    6.1    21.1

7

   Venezuela    3.3    12.8

8

   Dominican Republic    1.5    16.2

9

   Ecuador    1.0    8.0

10

   Guatemala    1.0    7.6

11

   Costa Rica    1.0    20.5

12

   Uruguay    0.7    20.4
     Total    93.3   

Source: InternetWorldStats.com.

Internet enabling infrastructure

The significant growth of the Internet in Latin America has been enabled by a relatively large and growing telecommunications infrastructure. The following chart shows the penetration in certain countries of different devices and services that can be used to connect to the Internet:

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Source: Phone lines from Business Monitor and Paul Budde Communication. Cell phones from CIA World Factobook. PCs and broadband from Pyramid Research.

Note: Estimates at December 31, 2006. Cell phone subscribers at December 31, 2005, except for Uruguay and the United Kingdom, which are at December 31, 2004. PC users at December 31, 2004 for Uruguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Panama and Venezuela.

 

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By the year 2006, the sum of PCs in the countries where MercadoLibre operates totaled 68.2 million and by the year 2005 the sum of cell phones in those same countries was 219.2 million. Compared to the year 2000, those totals represent an increase of 109% for PCs and 223% for cell phones. We believe that this rate of growth provides us with the opportunity to expand our customer base, and that the foundation for sustained web usage throughout the region has been set.

Factors contributing to the commercialization of Internet services in Latin America include the following:

 

 

higher computer penetration in households, workplaces, classrooms and Internet cafes;

 

 

increased availability and decreasing prices of broadband Internet, which provides a richer user experience and gives users access to a broader range of services than is possible with slower, dial-up Internet connections;

 

 

increased Internet security protection, including telecommunications networks and systems, which has helped promote consumers’ confidence in online transactions;

 

 

availability of advanced electronic or other payment systems, including credit card, bank transfer and mobile banking systems; and

 

 

the improvement of the Internet and communications infrastructure.

We believe that the combination of a large population of potential customers, the still low and untapped Internet penetration, a rapidly expanding base of Internet-enabling-devices and inefficiencies associated with traditional trading channels makes Latin America an attractive market for an Internet-based marketplace. Current research suggests the potential of e-commerce in the region. According to an A.C. Nielsen report on worldwide e-commerce, 63% of Internet users in Brazil, Mexico and Chile combined have already purchased an item online at some point in their lives, as compared to 85% in the United States. In their previous three online purchases, Internet users in Brazil, Mexico and Chile reported buying generally the same kinds of products as users in the United States, including books (31% of users in Brazil, Mexico and Chile, and 28% in the United States), videos, DVD s and games (22% of users in Brazil, Mexico and Chile, and 21% in the United States), and apparel (9% of users in Brazil, Mexico and Chile, and 22% in the United States).

Latin America’s e-commerce market is still at an early stage of development, but we believe it is evolving rapidly as an increasing number of users seek to purchase products and services on the Internet. According to our estimates based on multiple available sources, approximately $3,250.0 million were spent on e-commerce in Latin America in 2006. The table below shows the yearly volume of e-commerce transactions in selected Latin American markets.

 

Year ended December 31,

(in millions)

   2003    2004    2005    2006   

Compound

annual growth
rate 2003-2006

Argentina

   $ 173.2    $ 333.2    $ 479.1    $ 670.7    57.0%

Brazil

     390.5      598.3      1,027.1      2,022.6    73.0

Mexico

     118.9      213.9      356.6      558.1    67.5

Total

   $ 682.5    $ 1,145.5    $ 1,862.8    $ 3,251.4    68.3

Sources: Prince Cooke, Factiva, Brazilian Chamber of Electronic Commerce, AMIPCI, and our internal estimates.

With the acceleration of Internet penetration in the region and the increased preference for online shopping, the frequency of e-commerce transactions has increased significantly. According to A.C. Nielsen, during 2006, the average number of online purchases by Internet users in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico in a span of 30 days was 3.1 per Internet user purchasing something online.

 

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Business

Overview

We host the largest online trading platform in Latin America, called MercadoLibre and located at www.mercadolibre.com. We are market leaders in e-commerce in each of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, based on unique visitors and page views during 2006. Additionally, we have recently launched online trading platforms in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama. With a market of over 550 million people and a region with one of the world’s fastest-growing Internet penetration rates, we provide buyers and sellers a robust online trading environment that fosters the development of a large and growing e-commerce community. We offer a technological and commercial solution that addresses the distinctive cultural and geographic challenges of operating an online trading platform in Latin America.

We offer our users two principal services:

 

 

The MercadoLibre marketplace :    The MercadoLibre marketplace is a fully-automated, topically-arranged and user-friendly online trading service. This service permits both businesses and individuals to list items and conduct their sales and purchases online in either a fixed-price or auction-based format. Additionally, through online classified advertisements, our registered users can also list and purchase motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, real estate and services. Any Internet user can browse through the various products and services that are listed on our website and register with MercadoLibre to list, bid for and purchase items and services.

 

 

The MercadoPago online payments solution :    To complement the MercadoLibre marketplace, we developed MercadoPago, an integrated online payments solution. MercadoPago is designed to facilitate transactions on the MercadoLibre marketplace by providing a mechanism that allows our users to securely, easily and promptly send and receive payments online.

During the three months ended March 31, of 2007, visitors to our website were able to browse an average of over 2.9 million total listings per month, organized by country, in over 2,000 different product categories. We believe that we have achieved a critical mass of active buyers, sellers and product listings in most of the countries where we operate and that our business can be readily scaled to handle increases in our user base and transaction volume. At March 31, 2007, we had over 19.7 million confirmed registered MercadoLibre users. During 2006, we had 1.7 million unique sellers, 4.4 million unique buyers and 13.8 million successful items sold. During the three months ended March 31, of 2007 we had 0.6 million unique sellers, 1.7 million unique buyers and 3.9 million successful items sold.

History of MercadoLibre

In March of 1999, Marcos Galperín, our co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, while working towards his master’s degree in business administration from Stanford Business School, wrote our business plan and began to assemble a team of professionals to implement it. We were incorporated in Delaware in October of 1999.

 

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We commenced operations in Argentina in August of 1999, and began operations in other countries subsequently. The following table shows the timeline of different launches and events in each country:

 

       Country    Launch date    Office opening    MercadoPago

1

   Argentina    August 1999    July 1999    November 2003

2

   Brazil    October 1999    September 1999    January 2004

3

   Mexico    November 1999    October 1999    January 2004

4

   Uruguay    December 1999    N/A    N/A

5

   Colombia    February 2000    January 2000    Planned launch 2007

6

   Venezuela    March 2000    March 2000    April 2005

7

   Chile    March 2000    April 2000    Planned launch 2007

8

   Ecuador    December 2000    N/A    N/A

9

   Peru    December 2004    N/A    N/A

10

   Costa Rica    November 2006    N/A    N/A

11

   Dominican Republic    December 2006    N/A    N/A

12

   Panama    December 2006    N/A    N/A

Our business is organized using the same Internet platform in each country where we operate. However, we run the MercadoLibre marketplace in each country as a separate marketplace with no interaction with the marketplaces of other countries.

We received two rounds of financing in addition to our initial seed funding. The first round, carried out in November of 1999, raised $7.6 million from investors that included J.P. Morgan Partners BHCA L.P., Flatiron Fund entities and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. The second round of financing occurred in May of 2000 and raised $46.7 million from, among others, Goldman Sachs entities (GS Capital Partners III, L.P., GS Capital Partners III Offshore, L.P. and Goldman Sachs & Co. Verwaltungs GmbH), Capital Riesgo Internet SCR S.A. (CRI Banco Santander Central Hispano), GE Capital Equity Investments, Inc., J.P. Morgan Partners BHCA L.P. and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst.

In September of 2001, we entered into a strategic alliance with eBay, which became one of our stockholders and started working with us to better serve the Latin American online trading community. As part of this strategic alliance, we acquired eBay’s Brazilian subsidiary at the time, iBazar, and eBay agreed not to compete with us in the region during the term of the agreement. This agreement also provided us with access to certain know-how and experience, which accelerated aspects of our development. The agreement governing our strategic alliance with eBay expired on September 24, 2006. Even though eBay is one of our stockholders, with the termination of this agreement, there are no contractual restrictions upon eBay becoming one of our competitors. See “Risk Factors—Risks related to our business—We operate in a highly competitive and evolving market, and therefore face potential reductions in the use of our service.”

In November of 2002, we acquired certain key strategic assets of Lokau.com , a competing Brazilian online trading platform and we incorporated all registered users of Lokau.com into our platform.

In November of 2005, we acquired certain operations of a regional competitor in online trading, DeRemate.com Inc., including all of its operations in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela and the majority of shares of its subsidiaries (except for its Argentine and Chilean subsidiaries, which operate under the control of certain previous stockholders of

 

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DeRemate), for an aggregate purchase price of $12.1 million, net of cash and cash equivalents acquired. This acquisition increased our user base by approximately 1.3 million confirmed registered users and solidified our market leadership position in Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay. We financed the acquisition with a loan from eBay, one of our stockholders. Please see “Certain relationships and related transactions—Relationship with eBay” and “Use of proceeds” for more information.

In February of 2007, investment entities affiliated with Tiger purchased 1.7 million shares of our capital stock from existing stockholders of our company, including Nedasur S.A., a former stockholder of our company which had designated our current director Nicolás Galperín, affiliates of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., a selling stockholder and in which one of our directors, Timothy Kingston, is an investment banker, and of J.P. Morgan Partners, LLC, an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., a joint book-runner of this offering and an entity formerly affiliated to CCMP Partners LLC, of which one of our directors, Alberto Delgado, is a Principal. Messrs. Kingston and Delgado intend to resign from our board of directors upon completion of this offering. Tiger has expressed interest in acquiring a significant amount of additional shares of our common stock in this offering. See “Underwriting.”

Competitive strengths

We focus on providing Internet-based trading platforms that enable e-commerce and its related services. Our services are designed to provide our users with mechanisms to buy, sell, pay for and collect on e-commerce transactions effectively and efficiently. We believe that our leading position throughout Latin America is primarily attributable to the following strengths:

 

 

We have a strong brand and are one of the leaders in the Latin American e-commerce market .    We were one of the initial entrants in the Latin American e-commerce market, and we host the leading online trading platform in the region based on unique visitors and page views. We have built strong brand awareness and a growing online community that provides our users with the advantages of a sizable network with a large number of participants in a single marketplace. In some countries, we operate the only large-scale online trading platform that covers a wide range of product and service categories.

 

 

We operate a proven business model .    Business models similar to ours have been successfully implemented in many countries around the world, most notably by one of our stockholders, eBay Inc., or eBay. We have had the advantage of working closely with eBay in exchanging industry best practices and developing and improving our services and strategy.

 

 

Our business model offers significant economies of scale .    Since we started operations in 1999, we have shown significant revenue growth from year to year. Our business model has substantial operating leverage because a significant portion of our costs are fixed, such that increases in revenues have resulted in higher margins year after year. From 2004 to 2006, our annual revenues increased from $12.7 million to $52.1 million, a 311.1% increase, while total costs and operating expenses grew from $16.0 million to $46.7 million, a 191.4% increase.

 

 

Our product range and information is extensive .    We offer our customers one of the broadest selections of products and product categories among e-commerce sites in Latin America. Our sites offer on average over 2.9 million total listings per month from a selection of over 2,000 different product categories. Our product selection ranges from traditional e-commerce items such as books, music, videos, electronics, computers, hardware, cameras and cellular telephones, to industrial goods and services, to real estate and contractor services. Our website offers an efficient shopping experience with extensive information, ratings and reviews on listed products.

 

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We provide creative and innovative solutions .    We have developed creative and innovative solutions to the challenges of conducting e-commerce in Latin America. For example, in addition to offering sellers an auction-based format to sell an item, the MercadoLibre marketplace also offers a fixed-price alternative to respond to the current preferences in the region for fixed-price listings. In order to address the specific needs of buyers and sellers of motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, real estate and certain services, items for which buyers will typically require a physical inspection or specific types of interaction, we offer our users an online classified advertisements service that is dedicated to these items. To complement the MercadoLibre marketplace by providing an end-to-end service that facilitates the completion of transactions online, we have developed MercadoPago, which operates as an escrow service that allows our users to make and receive payments efficiently and securely online. In order to meet the demand for product information by potential purchasers, we have launched product content sections on our platform that encourage user ratings and product reviews, and provide product catalogues and purchasing guides. To improve the efficiency of our MercadoLibre marketplace, we launched a relevance-based algorithm to sort listings, which provides users with a superior buying experience by matching supply and demand.

 

 

We have acquired considerable local market expertise .    As one of the first Internet trading platforms in the countries where we operate, we have developed an understanding of the needs and preferences of our users and customers. We have historically used this expertise to develop services and products that cater to the unique needs of Latin American e-commerce clients.

 

 

We have an experienced and highly qualified team .    We are led by a team of highly qualified management and information technology professionals who run our business and websites from our offices in Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Mexico City, Caracas, Santiago and Bogotá. Our ten most senior management officers and our four most senior technology professionals joined our team in 2000 or before, which provides us with stable and seasoned leadership. The commitment, knowledge and track record of both our management and technology teams are valuable assets to our company. We believe that our corporate culture contributes to the high level of satisfaction of our employees and to the retention and commitment of our team.

Our strategy

We seek to serve people in Latin America by offering an online marketplace that can improve the quality of life of those who use it, while creating significant value for our stockholders. We serve our buyers by giving them access to a broader and more affordable variety of products and services than those available on other online and offline venues. We serve our sellers by allowing them to reach a larger and more geographically diverse user base at a lower overall cost and investment than offline venues, which enables them to build businesses. More broadly, we strive to turn inefficient markets into more efficient ones and in that process we generate value. To achieve these objectives, we apply the following strategies:

 

 

Continue to grow our business and maintain market leadership .    We have focused and intend to continue to focus on growing our business by strengthening our position as the preferred online marketplace in each of the countries in which we operate. We also intend to grow our business and maintain our leadership by taking advantage of the expanding potential client base that has resulted from the growth of Internet penetration rates in Latin America. We intend to achieve these goals through organic growth, by entering into new countries and

 

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category segments, and, when possible and advantageous, through potential strategic acquisitions of key businesses and assets.

 

 

Increase monetization of our transactions .    We have focused and will continue to focus on improving the revenue generation capacity of our business by implementing initiatives designed to maximize the revenues we receive from transactions on our platform. Some of these initiatives include increasing our fee structure, introducing listing fees in the countries where we do not currently charge them, and selling advertising and Internet marketing services on our platform. Additionally, we intend to take advantage of the natural synergies that exist between our marketplace and payments service by promoting increased use of MercadoPago so that it becomes the preferred online payment method on and off our platform.

 

 

Enhance brand awareness .    We believe that enhancing awareness of the MercadoLibre brand is important to achieve our business objectives. We intend to continue to promote, advertise and increase recognition of our brand through a variety of marketing and promotional campaigns. These may include marketing agreements with companies with significant online presence and advertising through traditional media, such as cable television. We may also use leading websites and other media such as affiliate programs, banner advertisements and keyword searches. In addition, by enhancing our e-commerce community experience, we believe we will promote brand awareness through word of mouth.

 

 

Focus on user loyalty and website enhancement .    We will continue to focus on increasing purchase frequency and transaction volumes from our existing users. We intend to do so by maintaining an appealing and convenient platform for e-commerce, improving the functionality of our website to deliver a more efficient user experience and providing our users with the help of a dedicated customer support department. We employ a number of programs aimed at fostering customer loyalty and repeated purchases, such as our MercadoLider loyalty program for high-volume sellers, our targeted and segmented direct marketing program, and MercadoPago special promotions awarding interest-free installments.

 

 

Increase operational efficiency .    We believe that our business model is an advantage in competing with traditional online and off-line retailers as we do not require a physical showroom or storage locations and do not actually process the orders. We plan to maximize this advantage by achieving economies of scale, maintaining controls on overhead costs and reducing variable costs whenever possible.

 

 

Continue to develop innovative and creative solutions .    We intend to continually enhance our trading platform in order to better serve both individuals and businesses that want to buy or sell goods and services online. We intend to continue investing to develop new tools and technologies that facilitate e-commerce on our platform and improve our users’ online experience on MercadoLibre, while addressing the distinctive cultural, geographical and other challenges of online trading in Latin America.

 

 

Serve our dynamic and active user community .    We seek to operate MercadoLibre as an open and trusted Web-based marketplace where users can access a broad market of products. We believe in treating our users with respect by applying a consistent set of policies that reinforce good online and offline behavior within our user community. We also seek to offer superior customer care in order to maintain the loyalty and satisfaction of our active user base.

 

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Using the MercadoLibre marketplace

The MercadoLibre marketplace is an Internet-based trading platform where buyers and sellers can meet, exchange information and complete e-commerce transactions for a wide range of goods and services using either a fixed-price sale or an auction-based format. The MercadoLibre marketplace also allows sellers to list motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, real estate and services on our online classified advertisements section. Buyers typically want to inspect these higher-value items before purchasing them. The MercadoLibre marketplace offers buyers a large selection of new and used items that are often more expensive or otherwise hard to find through traditional offline sellers, such as brick-and-mortar retail establishments, offline classified advertisements, community bulletin boards, auction houses and flea markets. We believe that the MercadoLibre marketplace allows sellers to reach a large number of potential buyers more cost-effectively than through traditional offline commerce channels.

Arrival at a country-specific website .    A visitor to our website at www.mercadolibre.com will arrive at a main page that allows the visitor to pick his or her country of residence by clicking on the name of the country or its corresponding flag. After choosing a country, the visitor will be directed to the country-specific Web pages of the MercadoLibre marketplace, all of which have the same look and feel. Alternatively, visitors can enter a country-specific page by typing that country’s website address. The main differences between each country-specific Web page consist of the type and number of items available for purchase in each country, the number of confirmed registered users, the name, number and division of categories, the language (in the case of Brazil), and the availability of payment via MercadoPago. We divide our service by country, and most transactions are conducted within each country, although registered users can operate cross-border, subject to certain limitations relating to customs and tariffs. Our decision to favor a country-specific approach over a single pan-regional trading platform responds to consumer preferences in Latin America. Although cross-border trading is permitted and does occur in limited instances, the vast majority of trading remains intra-country. By dividing the service by country, we make searching, finding, pricing and comparing items in a user’s own country significantly easier, thus facilitating the shopping experience. In addition, users in Brazil speak Portuguese, and therefore Brazil could not be as easily integrated into a single platform with other countries.

In November of 2005, we acquired the operations of DeRemate, a regional competitor, except for its operations in Argentina and Chile. A visitor to the www.deremate.com website will arrive at a main page that asks the visitor to pick his or her country of residence by clicking on the name of the country or its corresponding flag. After choosing a country, the visitor will be directed to the country-specific Web pages of the MercadoLibre marketplace, but such Web page will have the look and feel of a DeRemate Web page. If the visitor picks DeRemate in Argentina or Chile, the visitor will be directed to the DeRemate websites of those two countries, which do not belong to us.

 

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The following map indicates the countries for which we operate country-specific websites.

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Operational metrics by country .    The following tables show certain metrics for 2006 and for the three months ended March 31, 2007 by which we monitor our business.

 

Year ended December 31,

2006 (in millions)

  Gross
merchandise
volume(1)
   Successful
items(2)
   Confirmed new
registered users
   Unique
sellers(3)
  

Unique

Buyers(4)

Argentina   $ 159.7    2.5    0.9    0.3    0.7
Brazil     562.6    7.4    2.8    0.7    2.3
Mexico     154.1    1.8    0.9    0.2    0.6
Other     198.6    2.2    1.4    0.4    0.8
Total   $ 1,075.1    13.8    6.0    1.7    4.4

 

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Three months ended March 31, 2007
(in millions)
   Gross
merchandise
volume(1)
   Successful
items(2)
   Confirmed new
registered users
   Unique
sellers(3)
  

Unique

Buyers(4)

Argentina    $ 45.0    0.7    0.2    0.1    0.3
Brazil      152.2    2.1    0.7    0.2    0.9
Mexico      46.5    0.6    0.2    0.1    0.2
Other      68.9    0.6    0.4    0.2    0.3
Total      312.5    3.9    1.6    0.6    1.7
(1)   “Gross merchandise volume” is the value of items listed on the MercadoLibre marketplace that were successfully sold, excluding motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate.

 

(2)   “Successful items” is the number of items listed on the MercadoLibre marketplace that were successfully sold.

 

(3)   “Unique sellers” is the number of sellers that list an item for sale, without regard for the number of items sold.

 

(4)   “Unique buyers” is the number of individual buyers that purchase an item, without regard for the number of items purchased.

Registration .     Although any visitor to the MercadoLibre marketplace can browse through our trading platform and view the listed items, both prospective buyers and sellers must first register before purchasing or bidding for an item, listing an item for sale or posting content on our website. Users register by completing a short online form, accepting our terms and conditions and confirming their submission from a valid e-mail address and can then purchase or bid for an item or list an item for sale. Once registered, as long as they have a good transaction history and credit profile, users can buy and sell in any of our country-specific Web pages, except for our Web pages in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Uruguay, which are not integrated with the rest of the countries due to the fact that they are relatively new markets compared to our more established markets and therefore customers in those countries are charged lower fees and monitoring efforts are in their early stages of deployment. Cross-border transactions are an immaterial percentage of all transactions on our websites. The registration process allows us to have a database with specified information for each user, which is useful in a number of areas, such as activity and success tracking, fraud prevention, measurement of operational metrics and content personalization. The registration process is integrated, so that registration for the MercadoLibre marketplace is also valid for MercadoPago.

Buying on the MercadoLibre marketplace .     Each country-specific home page contains a listing of product and service categories that allows for easy browsing of the items listed for sale in that country-specific page. Bidders can search for specific items by browsing through items within a category. Bidders can also search specific categories or the entire database of listings using keywords to describe the types of products or services in which they are interested. For each keyword search, our search engine will generate a list of relevant listings and items with links to the detailed descriptions. Each item is assigned a unique identifier so that users can easily search for and track specific items. Users can also search for a particular bidder or seller by name in order to review his or her listed items and feedback history. We often feature the most visited and popular items listed on our platform. Users can also sort listings based on the type of listing (fixed-price or auction-based), the time remaining on the listing, price, type of seller, and other filters. Sorted items are ordered according to an automated relevance algorithm. This algorithm results in a better buyer experience because it helps buyers find the most attractive items for sale faster.

Once a buyer has found an item of interest and registered with the MercadoLibre marketplace, that buyer may purchase the item immediately, or, in the case of an auction, the buyer can enter the maximum amount it is willing to pay at that time. Buyers wanting additional information about a listed item can ask the seller through a public question and answer message board that is located at the bottom of every item description page. This board is available to all other users

 

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who access that listing. We believe that this interaction between buyers and sellers increases the amount of information that users have about each item and each seller’s level of customer service, which we believe is an important part of the MercadoLibre marketplace experience. In the case of auctions, the bidder with the highest bid at the time the auction expires becomes the buyer. Sellers and bidders/buyers are notified of a number of actions that their counterparts take on the MercadoLibre marketplace, such as when a bid is placed, when a question is asked regarding an item, when a question is answered and when feedback on a user is submitted, via e-mails that are automatically sent by our software. Buyers are not charged for making bids or purchases through our MercadoLibre platform, as fees are charged to sellers and MercadoPago users.

Buyers interested in finding certain items can use our “MercadoAlerta” function, which is a free alert service that any user can activate to have our system to notify the user by e-mail of any listings that fit the criteria that the user has specified, such as keyword, price range, location, category of listing, etc.

Buyers can also search MercadoLibre’s online classified advertisements for motor vehicles, vessels and aircraft by manufacturer, model, year and price; for real estate that is offered for sale or for rent by type, location and price; and for services by type and location. For these items, sellers can list their phone numbers and receive prospective buyers’ e-mail addresses, in order to allow for instant and direct communication between sellers and potential buyers. Buyers typically require a physical inspection of these items or specific types of interaction before completing a transaction, and therefore a classified advertisements service is better suited for these types of items than our traditional online purchase method.

Selling on the MercadoLibre marketplace .     A seller that is registered with us can list a product or service in any of our country-specific Web pages by completing an online form. The seller can enter the item description, including up to six photographs, the selling price and the length of time for which the item will be available for sale. In the case of auction-based sales, the seller also selects a starting price for the opening bid for the item. Additionally, a seller may select a reserve price for an item, which is the minimum price at which the seller is willing to sell the item and is typically higher than the starting price set for opening bids. The reserve price is not disclosed to bidders. A seller can also elect to sell items in individual auctions or, if he or she has multiple identical items, can elect to hold a “Dutch Auction.” For example, an individual wishing to sell ten identical watches could hold ten individual auctions or hold a Dutch Auction in which the ten highest bidders would each receive a watch and all lower bids would be rejected. Auction-based sales, however, account only for 11% of all sales on our platform, as sellers prefer to sell their items in a fixed-price format.

In each of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, sellers pay a listing fee. The listing fee in these countries varies by country from 0.5% to 1% of the listing price of each item (in the case of auctions it is between 0.5% and 1% of the starting price of the auction, and in the case of e-shops fees are as described in—E-shops, below.) Listing fees are subject to a maximum cap of approximately $15. In the case of auctions with a reserve price, if the maximum bid does not meet the reserve price, we charge the seller a fee of 1% of the reserve price in addition to the listing fee.

 

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To draw attention to and enhance a listed item, sellers can elect to purchase one or more of the following optional features:

 

 

featuring a listing on a page with high traffic, such as our home page or a category home page;

 

 

preferential order of a listing in a list of items;

 

 

a listing appearing highlighted;

 

 

a listing appearing in bold face letters;

 

 

inclusion of a picture for an item on search results pages;

 

 

automatic slideshow of all the pictures in an item page; and

 

 

a combination of features at a discounted price.

Optional feature fees range from approximately $0.25 up to approximately $25.00.

In order to list motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate using classified advertisements, sellers pay a listing fee ranging from approximately $5.00 to $10.00 depending on the country. We offer car dealerships the ability to purchase monthly packages that allow them to list multiple motor vehicles for a discounted monthly flat fee ranging from approximately $50.00 to $100.00, depending on the country, for up to 30 vehicles and from approximately $100.00 to $200.00, depending on the country, for up to 300 vehicles. In the case of services, the cost of a basic listing varies from approximately $6.00 to $50.00 depending on the duration of the listing. The cost of a service listing with optional features ranges from $15.00 to $100.00, also depending on its duration.

How transactions are completed on the MercadoLibre marketplace .     In the case of fixed-price items, at any time a buyer clicks on the “purchase” button and confirms its intention to purchase an item for sale, we automatically notify the buyer and seller via e-mail and make each of their respective contact information available to the other party. In the case of auctions, at the end of an auction period, we automatically notify the highest bidder (in the event the bid exceeds the reserve price if the seller set one) and seller via e-mail. Once the transaction is successfully concluded, we charge the seller a final value fee that ranges from approximately 4% to 10% of the closing price of each item sold, depending on the country and category where the transaction is completed, with a minimum fee of approximately $0.30 and a maximum fee of approximately $125.00. In e-shops, the fee structure is slightly different, as explained in—E-shops, below. We do not take possession of the item being sold at any point during the process. The buyer and seller must independently arrange for the shipment and payment of the item.

A buyer can view the seller’s feedback rating and then determine the manner of payment, such as cash, personal check, cashier’s check, or credit card, whether to use MercadoPago (which can be funded with these same direct payment methods) and also agree with the seller whether the item will be shipped before or after the payment is received. In the case of MercadoPago, the item is shipped after the buyer makes the payment to MercadoPago and before the payment is released to the seller. See “Business—The MercadoPago online payments solution.”

We do not facilitate the completion of transactions online for motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, services, and real estate, which are listed on the classified advertisements section of the MercadoLibre marketplace. This is because buyers and sellers of these items will typically inspect the listed item and make payment arrangements independently from our platform, and in some

 

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instances, they may even decide not to consummate the transaction after inspection. Although we do not require that sellers who list motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate on the MercadoLibre marketplace report to us the completion of their sales, some sellers who list these items do report them to us, in which case we will charge that seller a final value fee of approximately $0.60 up to $1.00, and we will allow the buyer and seller to submit feedback (see “—User feedback,” below).

Under the terms of our user agreement, if a seller receives an offer to buy an item that the seller listed in a fixed-price or auction format (or a bid above the reserve price, if one was set), the seller is obligated to complete the transaction. However, we have no means to force the seller and buyer to complete the transaction other than to suspend the user from our platform. In order to discourage high levels of incomplete transactions, we charge an administrative fee to sellers who have monthly ratios of non-completed to completed transactions that are significantly higher than the average and median of all other sellers. These administrative charges are calculated as a percentage of the commissions that would have been charged on the transactions. In the event a buyer and seller are unable to complete a certain transaction on the MercadoLibre marketplace, we generally credit the seller the amount of the final value fee, depending on the circumstances that prevented the parties from completing the transaction and the transaction history of the parties involved. Invoices for listing fees, optional feature fees and final value fees are sent via e-mail to sellers every two weeks. See “—Billing and collections.”

What can be purchased or sold on the MercadoLibre marketplace .     The MercadoLibre marketplace currently has over 2,000 product and service categories. Products and services are listed within a country-specific Web page. As the number of product and service categories grows, we periodically reorganize the categories under different headings to reflect the major types of items listed and the way a user would typically search for an item online and offline. Categories are organized slightly differently in the different country-specific websites to account for differences in the popularity of certain items and the availability of those items in a particular category in each country. Each category may have a number of different subcategories.

At March 31, 2007, the most important product and service categories were organized under the following headings:

 

Art and Antiques

   Domestic Appliances    Music and Movies

Baby Products

   Electronics, Audio and Video    Musical Instruments

Books, Magazines

   Health and Beauty    Real Estate

Cellular Telephones

   Home and Furnishings    Services

Clothing and Accessories

   Industry and Office    Sports and Fitness

Collectibles and Hobbies

   Jewelry and Watches    Toys and Games

Computers

   Motor Parts    Video Games

Digital Cameras and Photo

   Motor Vehicles   

At March 31, 2007, we offered a selection of over 1,150,585 different listings available at any given point in time in all countries combined. The number of available items varies by country and is significantly higher than the number of listings because several fixed-price listings contain multiple units of the same item available for sale. For the year 2006, excluding transactions relating to motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, services, and real estate, approximately 79.1% of the transactions completed on the MercadoLibre marketplace related to new items and approximately 88.8% were completed using a fixed-price format. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, 77.3% of these transactions related to new items and 88.6% were completed using a fixed-price format. Our most popular items listed throughout the countries where we

 

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operate are computers and electronics and other items that are relatively standard or can be well-represented with a picture and a description, can be effectively evaluated without a physical inspection, are small, and can be easily shipped. As our community grows and additional items are listed, we intend to continue to create additional categories to respond to the needs of our users.

We have implemented policies based on our terms of use and local regulations that explain to our users that the sale of certain items on our platform is restricted or prohibited. Listings that violate our policies may result in disciplinary action against the responsible sellers, such as formal warnings, termination of a listing in violation of the policy and temporary or permanent suspension of a user from our platform.

E-shops .    We offer sellers the possibility of opening their own store, or “e-shop,” within our platform. E-shops are a useful alternative for higher volume individual sellers or small businesses that seek to have a stronger brand presence on the MercadoLibre marketplace. Sellers can personalize their e-shop by having a Web page address that includes their MercadoLibre user ID, with their logo on the Web page and customizing its design and look and feel. Additionally, items listed in e-shops have a different fee structure from those listed ordinarily on the MercadoLibre marketplace. Listing fees for e-shop users are very low, at less than $0.01 per item; final value fees are higher, at 6.5% to 10.0% of the closing price, with a maximum fee of approximately $175.00; and the listing time is longer (up to 120 days as opposed to up to 30 days for regular users). This fee structure makes e-shops especially attractive for listing a large variety of products with a low selling price, such as movies, music or books, or items with a high price and a longer turn-around time, such as very expensive plasma television sets, plotters and medical equipment. Items listed in e-shops will appear in the e-shop section of the MercadoLibre marketplace and also below regular listings in search result pages. The monthly cost of having an e-shop is approximately $7.00 for a basic type and approximately $20.00 for a featured one. E-shops were introduced during the first quarter of 2006 and are currently available in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.

User feedback .     We have implemented a user feedback system on the MercadoLibre marketplace to facilitate the establishment of online reputations within our community by encouraging users to record comments about other users with whom they have interacted with on our platform. Every registered user has an available trading profile. Users who have transacted or interacted with a registered user may submit positive, neutral or negative feedback on a user’s profile. This profile includes the feedback rating for the user and shows comments from other MercadoLibre users who have transacted with that user in the past. Users who have developed positive reputations over time will have a star symbol displayed next to their username, which is color- and shape-coded to indicate the number of positive reviews, net of negative reviews, received by that user. Our users may review a particular user’s feedback profile to check on that user’s reputation within our community before deciding to bid on an item listed by that user or in determining how to complete the payment for and delivery of that item. We make this feedback publicly available only after two parties have rated each other or the time for providing feedback has expired, in order to minimize retaliatory feedback. In this way, we believe that our feedback system allows for more honest and unbiased feedback from all users. We believe that our user ratings system helps generate trust and ease among our users and allows them to trade with a higher degree of comfort with parties with whom they have not interacted before.

MercadoLider status.     A user can become a MercadoLider (MarketLeader), MercadoLider Gold or MercadoLider Platinum user based on a combination of the following: (1) the amount billed to

 

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that user in a particular time period, (2) the time that the user has been registered with us, (3) the number of sales that the user conducts per month, and (4) the percentage of positive feedback from other users. Users with MercadoLider status are sellers who are very active and receive a high number and percentage of positive reviews, which makes them important members of our community. We believe that buyers recognize the importance of the MercadoLider status and have a higher degree of confidence when buying from sellers with this status. Sellers who obtain MercadoLider status enjoy several exclusive benefits, such as promotions that include only their listings, receiving information regarding what categories will be promoted, previews of new features on our platform, invitations to events and training sessions, and certain discounts. Sellers with MercadoLider Gold status receive a basic e-shop, and those with MercadoLider Platinum status receive a featured e-shop, in each case free of the monthly maintenance charge. The MercadoLider status is available in each country where we operate, although not all levels are available for certain operations.

Other online community and support features .     We offer a variety of other community and support features that are designed to contribute to the growth of the MercadoLibre marketplace and to build user affinity for and loyalty to our brand and platform. The MercadoLibre marketplace facilitates communications between our buyers and sellers through an online question and answer board related to each listing and offers category-specific online bulletin boards, e-mails alerting our users to the listing of items that they want, an announcements section that covers new features on the MercadoLibre marketplace or other MercadoLibre news, and other online customer support and suggestions boards. We also offer personalized areas for our users such as “My Reputation,” “My Sales,” “My Items” and “My Purchases,” which permits users to have access to a summarized report of their recent activity on our platform, including bidding activity, selling activity, account balances, favorite categories and recent feedback. Users with their own Web pages can also post hyperlink buttons from that user’s Web page to our website and to a list of items the user has listed on the MercadoLibre marketplace.

The MercadoPago online payments solution

Our online payments service is called MercadoPago and is currently available to MercadoLibre users in each of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela. MercadoPago was launched in Argentina in November of 2003 and then was gradually introduced in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela, and is currently being introduced in Chile and Colombia, in that order. During 2006, our users paid approximately $89.0 million for items by using MercadoPago, which represented 8.3% of our gross merchandise volume for that year. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, payments for items using MercadoPago totaled $26.6 million, which represented 8.5% of our gross merchandise volume for that period. MercadoPago enables any individual or business registered with MercadoLibre to securely and easily send and receive payments online for MercadoLibre marketplace items.

MercadoPago provides an escrow service where, after initiating a transaction on the MercadoLibre marketplace, a buyer will deposit money (typically by bank transfer, credit card payment or cash deposit) to be held by MercadoPago. Upon notice that the buyer has paid MercadoPago for the listed item, the seller will then ship that item to the buyer and once the buyer receives the item, the buyer will authorize MercadoPago to release the sale amount of the purchased item to the seller’s MercadoPago account.

In exchange for providing MercadoPago, we receive a commission from the buyer when the buyer funds MercadoPago. Our commission rates average approximately 8.0% of the sales price

 

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of a listed item. Our rates will vary depending on whether a buyer makes payments through MercadoPago by credit card, debit card, check, cash or bank transfer, except in Argentina where in May of 2006 we made our commission uniform at 6.49%. For cash, bank deposits, checks and electronic transfers, our commission rates range from 1.99% to 3.99% depending on the funding method and country, with a minimum of approximately $1.00. For credit card payments, our commission rate ranges from 6.49% of the payment amount for a single lump-sum payment, up to approximately 43.99% of the payment amount (which includes any applicable interest charged) for an eighteen-month installment plan.

During 2006, MercadoPago processed 0.9 million transactions in all MercadoPago countries. During the three months ended March 31, 2007, the number of transactions processed was 263,752. During 2006, the preferred method of funding MercadoPago was by credit card, which represents approximately 60.8% of the transactions processed, followed by off-line funding alternatives (such as bank deposits or collection agents) with 22.2% and online bank transfers with 16.8%. Buyers often favor credit cards to fund MercadoPago because they can use them to finance their purchases and pay in installments in most countries, and do so conveniently and safely.

LOGO

 

The buyer funds MercadoPago  

The seller ships

the item

 

The buyer receives

the item

  The seller receives payment from MercadoPago

We believe that MercadoPago makes online commerce more efficient and more secure as compared to traditional offline payment methods such as checks, money orders and credit cards via merchant accounts. Traditional offline payment methods can place several obstacles in the online commerce process, including lengthy processing times, general inconvenience, undesired disclosure of personal information and risk of non-delivery. We believe that MercadoPago is well-suited for small businesses, online merchants and individuals by enabling them to send and receive payments securely, conveniently and more cost-effectively. With MercadoPago, individual sellers can offer a much broader array of payment options to buyers without the need of having a credit card merchant account or collection accounts with different banks. MercadoPago enables buyers to have their payments released only after they have received a purchased item. Our MercadoPago user network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of our users’ bank accounts, credit card relationships and the corresponding network of payment mechanisms to create what we believe is an efficient, cost-effective and relatively secure online payments solution.

MercadoPago strategy

We seek to increase the percentage of completed MercadoLibre marketplace transactions that are paid for using MercadoPago and introduce MercadoPago outside the MercadoLibre marketplace. To achieve this objective, we will focus on the following:

 

 

Increase adoption of MercadoPago among MercadoLibre marketplace users .    In the countries where MercadoPago was available, during 2006 approximately 43.8% of the MercadoLibre marketplace’s listings accepted MercadoPago for payments and 8.3% of our gross merchandise volume (excluding motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft and real estate) was completed through

 

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MercadoPago. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, these figures were 46.6% and 8.4%, respectively. In order to strengthen MercadoPago’s penetration into the online payments activity of the MercadoLibre marketplace, we will continue our marketing efforts on our website, further integrate MercadoPago payment options into MercadoLibre marketplace listings and develop new product features to enhance our users’ experience.

 

 

Expand to other MercadoLibre marketplace markets .    At March 31, 2007, MercadoPago was available in local currency in each of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela. We plan to gradually introduce MercadoPago in countries where it is not yet available in order to provide our users with our online payments solution and further monetize our business. We plan to launch MercadoPago in Chile and Colombia during 2007.

 

 

Foster adoption of MercadoPago payments outside the MercadoLibre platform .    We will seek to expand the market for MercadoPago by creating additional payment services. These new products may not be related to online retail, and/or could allow us to provide services to two users who simply wish to transfer money to each other.

We are currently in the final stages of development of an improved version of MercadoPago. This version of MercadoPago, which is slated for roll-out during late 2007, will allow users who are not registered with MercadoLibre to send and receive payments to each other as long as they register on MercadoPago. Furthermore, this new version of MercadoPago will offer online sellers who accept MercadoPago as a means of payment on their websites the ability to provide to their customers a MercadoPago shopping cart that streamlines the shopping, billing and payment processes. We believe that the ease of use, safety and efficiency that the MercadoPago shopping cart offers will allow us to generate additional business from Web merchants that sell items outside the MercadoLibre marketplace. We believe that there is a significant business opportunity to increase adoption of MercadoPago as a payment mechanism outside of the MercadoLibre marketplace. However, a low market acceptance of these new MercadoPago features and functionality could have an adverse effect on our business.

In addition to increased functionality, the new version of MercadoPago will also have a different pricing structure from the current one. Pricing for purchases made in single installments will be charged to the seller instead of the buyer. The commission charged will vary by country, ranging from 7.0% to 10.0%. For purchases made in installments, the seller will be charged the single installment fee, but in addition to that the buyer will be charged approximately between 5.0% and 42.0% of the purchase price as a financing fee (depending on the country and number of installments).

MercadoPago services and integration with the MercadoLibre marketplace

MercadoLibre users have an integrated MercadoLibre marketplace/MercadoPago account, so that any user already registered with the MercadoLibre marketplace can start using MercadoPago by simply accepting MercadoPago’s terms and conditions. See “Business—The MercadoLibre marketplace—Registration” for information on registration with the MercadoLibre marketplace. Sellers may accept MercadoPago payments by checking a box when listing an item. Buyers can make payments using MercadoPago when they purchase items on the MercadoLibre marketplace from a seller that accepts MercadoPago payments. The following steps occur when a buyer pays for an item on the MercadoLibre marketplace using MercadoPago in each of the countries where we operate (unless we state otherwise):

 

 

a buyer will select an item for purchase on the MercadoLibre marketplace;

 

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the buyer will enter his/her username and password and will confirm the shipping and payment information to authorize the payment, at which time we will charge the buyer our commission for using MercadoPago;

 

 

MercadoPago will debit the funds from that buyer’s MercadoPago balance or credit card account (as the buyer instructs). The buyer may also choose to fund transactions from that buyer’s bank account or pay cash in bank branches;

 

 

once the payment is processed or, in the case of a check payment, once the funds have cleared the buyer’s bank account (which may take two to five business days depending on the country), we notify the seller of receipt of payment;

 

 

the seller will then ship the item;

 

 

once the buyer receives the item, payment is released to the seller. Payment is also automatically released to the seller 14 days after the transaction unless the buyer asks us to hold the payment;

 

 

at the time the funds are released to the seller, we will deduct applicable MercadoLibre marketplace selling fees. We then credit the remaining balance to the seller’s MercadoPago account; and

 

 

once the seller receives the payment to its MercadoPago account, it can make payments to others, pay MercadoLibre marketplace fees, or withdraw funds at any time via electronic funds transfer (at no charge in Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela, and for a fee of approximately $2.00 in Brazil).

We do incur transaction costs on payments at different levels in the MercadoPago payment structure based on whether the source of a payment is due from a credit card or debit card where transaction costs are significantly higher than bank account or balance-funded payments. Financial institutions and credit card companies bear the credit risk of each MercadoPago transaction paid in installments, while we only facilitate completion of these transactions. However, we do bear the risk of charge-backs from credit card companies in the event that buyers deny charges related to MercadoPago transactions. See “Risk factors—Risks related to our business—MercadoPago is susceptible to illegal uses, and we could potentially face liability for any illegal use of MercadoPago.”

We do not charge foreign exchange fees for any items listed in foreign currency, because payment for a purchased item has to be made in the local currency of each country (and if listed in another currency, at the exchange rate on the purchase date, as determined by us). We do not charge our users any fees for maintaining balances over a period of time in their MercadoPago accounts.

Customer support

We devote significant resources to providing personalized and responsive customer service and support to our MercadoLibre marketplace and MercadoPago users. Our customer support operations are focused on ensuring our customers’ satisfaction in order to maximize trading among community members, build strong customer loyalty, drive repeat usage and grow revenue opportunities.

We provide users with different support options including:

 

 

web-based self-help content available 24 hours a day;

 

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e-mail support;

 

 

a telephone customer service center for all MercadoPago users that operates daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Argentina time; and

 

 

a chat-based customer service center for MercadoLíderes that operates daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Argentina time.

These customer service options are organized by user profile and type of support required, which allows us to offer specialized account representatives to users who generate high revenues or have critical problems. Customer service representatives are available to customers for e-mail support, daily from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. (local time of the customer service center) almost 365 days a year (except for certain holidays, which vary depending on the country). We manage customer support contacts via e-mail with our own customer relationship management software, which allows seamless integration with information from our trading platform. This ensures a more user-friendly and intuitive customer support experience for our users with offerings such as self-help menus, automated web-forms that guide them through the customer service process and integration with their transaction history. We manage our customer support services from our service centers in Buenos Aires, Argentina for all Spanish-speaking users and in Santana do Parnaíba, Brazil for our Portuguese-speaking users. In addition to the scale-related benefits of centralized customer service centers, we have selected these locations, in the case of Buenos Aires to minimize our labor costs, due to the fact our headquarters are located in Buenos Aires, and in the case of Santana do Parnaíba to serve our Portuguese-speaking customers and due to certain tax incentives.

During 2006, approximately, 3.5 million and for the three months ended March 31, 2007, approximately 1.0 million customer e-mails were processed in our support centers. A dedicated team of approximately 425 customer support and trust & safety representatives handle these e-mails. 81.3% (during 2006) and 85.2% (during the three months ended March 31, 2007) of those e-mails were answered within the established 24-hour response time target. Customer satisfaction index surveys show that during the year 2006, approximately 85.0% of all users that interacted with our customer support services rated their experience as either “good,” “very good” or “excellent” and 85.6% did so during the three months ended March 31, 2007.

Transaction safety programs

We have developed certain transaction safety programs in an effort to provide our users with solutions to problems that are common in online trading. We organize all these initiatives under our MercadoSeguro program.

Our MercadoSeguro program is a comprehensive set of initiatives aimed at achieving safe and secure transactions on the MercadoLibre marketplace and MercadoPago, and includes our Intellectual Property Protection program and Buyer Protection program. This set of initiatives provides guidelines for safe online trading, makes information available to help resolve user disputes, responds to reports of misuses of our platform, mediates disputes between our users and runs preventive site monitoring to detect suspicious activity.

MercadoSeguro includes certain transaction safety initiatives to detect and deter possible instances of fraudulent transactions before they are completed. The initiatives employ preventive modeling techniques, automated transaction profile filters, account restrictions and limits, user verification and account investigations that are designed to detect and address fraudulent transactions before they affect users. In 2006 and during the three months ended March 31,

 

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2007, less than 0.05% of successful items sold were confirmed as fraudulent. In these limited number of cases where preventive actions are not successful at deterring fraudulent activity on our platform, our Buyer Protection program covers users for losses up to $600 incurred in the transaction if the buyer meets certain conditions. See “—Buyer protection program.”

We also conduct, whenever possible, additional monitoring and automated filtering of listings on the MercadoLibre marketplace to assure that items offered for sale comply with applicable laws, regulations and our MercadoLibre terms and conditions of use of our platform. We identify high-risk transactions with the use of automatic filters that detect regulated items such as medicines, health supplements and weapons, and transaction safety employees will check if the listing must be removed. We employ over 150 employees in our transaction safety operations centers, which are located in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santana do Parnaíba, Brazil, and serve all countries in proportion to each country’s market size and level of fraudulent activity.

Intellectual Property Protection program .    We have taken steps to protect the intellectual property rights of third parties, which MercadoLibre users could potentially infringe. In 2001, we established the “ Programa de Protección de Propiedad Intelectual ” (Intellectual Property Protection Program, or IPP Program), a program that enables owners of intellectual property rights to identify and report listings on the MercadoLibre marketplace that offer allegedly infringing items. The program is available free of charge to any claimant. In order to use the program, a claimant must submit to us via e-mail a Notice of Claimed Infringement form. Our IPP Program team will remove the infringing item after investigating the claim. Approximately 700 entities and individuals currently utilize the IPP Program to protect several types of intellectual property rights. In applying the IPP Program, we remove reported infringing listings and suspend repeat offenders.

Buyer Protection program .     The MercadoLibre Buyer Protection program covers qualified purchases that a buyer pays for and does not receive. The coverage is provided at no cost for up to approximately $600 of qualified purchases on the MercadoLibre marketplace, depending on the country (the program is available in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela) and whether the seller is a MercadoLider Platinum, MercadoLider Gold, MercadoLider or a regular user. A purchase is eligible for coverage if the item purchased is a tangible good, the buyer uses a payment system that provides proof that the payment was made, and the buyer uses seller information that is associated with the listing. The range of coverage, depending on the factors previously listed, has a cap of $85.00 in the cases of sellers that are regular users, and the cap increases with the status of the seller. Although we do not charge for the program, we deduct an administrative fee of between $15.00 and $25.00 on payments that are made to eligible buyers. Under the Buyer Protection Program a buyer has 30 days from the purchase date to file a claim through our website. Each time a buyer files a claim through the MercadoLibre Buyer Protection program, we first make sure that the buyer and the transaction are eligible for coverage. If so, we notify the buyer by email and the buyer must file a coverage claim through our site within 30 days. Then, we work with both the buyer and the seller to gather the details of the transaction in question. Our transaction safety team is in charge of the investigation and resolution process. We investigate the facts of the case by contacting both the buyer and seller and reviewing the history of the transaction. We then evaluate the facts and the status of the buyer and seller in the MercadoLibre community. Finally, we come to a conclusion based on all the information reviewed. If the coverage is granted, the buyer will have to file, sign and mail to us a reimbursement agreement within 60 days, and the payment will be made. Buyers are limited to one Buyer Protection program refund every six months. In 2006, the total amount of payments

 

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under the Buyer Protection program, net of administrative fee charges, was $43,000. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, the total amount of these payments was $9,615.

We treat this program as a marketing program, and not as insurance. Therefore, we have not purchased any reinsurance to protect us against payouts on the Buyer Protection Program. However, we believe that our fraud detection and prevention tools and processes provide us with adequate protection.

Marketing

Our marketing strategy is to promote the MercadoLibre brand and grow our platform by attracting new users and promoting more frequent trading by our existing users. To this end, we employ various means of advertising, including leading portals, our affiliates program, cable television, paid positioning in leading search engines, search engine optimization and off-line events. Our investment in online and offline marketing activities was $6.1 million for 2004, $9.2 million for 2005, $13.9 million for 2006 and $3.8 million during the three months ended March 31, 2007.

Specifically, we rely mostly on online advertising to promote our brand and attract potential buyers and sellers to our website. Our online activities focus on:

 

 

Negotiating and signing agreements with portals and websites that we believe could reach our target audience. These agreements allow us to purchase online advertising positions where we can market ourselves and show our promotions to potential users. During 2006, we entered into arrangements with most of the leading portals throughout Latin America, including MSN, Yahoo!, Google and UOL.

 

 

Actively managing our “MercadoSocios” program, an affiliates program that financially rewards site owners for directing new users to our platform who ultimately register with and conduct transactions on MercadoLibre. The MercadoSocios program is available in all countries where we operate, except Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Panama. With our MercadoSocios program any site owner can place a link to our website with a pre-approved icon that we provide. If an Internet user clicks on the link, arrives at our website, registers as a user and completes transactions on our platform, we compensate the site owner. For each new registered user that completes a transaction on our platform, we pay the site owner that directed the user to us a fee of approximately $2.5, and we pay the site owner 20.0% of the commissions that that user pays us for transactions carried out in the first 30 days after that user registered.

 

 

Investing in preferential placing on the most popular search engines in each country where we operate, such as Google and Yahoo Search. We purchase advertising space next to the results of certain keyword searches related to our activities.

 

 

Structuring our website so that it appears among the top natural results for certain keyword searches.

Since 2005, we have been running an annual cable television commercial campaign on a regional basis to increase brand awareness and recognition. We believe that cable television subscribers in Latin America offer an interesting demographic group based on both socio-economic profiling and the high penetration of Internet usage among cable television subscribers. During 2006, our cable media campaign ran from March to May and then from August through December. We did not run cable media advertisement during the first quarter of 2007.

 

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In addition to online and television advertising, we seek to reinforce our brand and increase transaction levels within the existing MercadoLibre user base through activities such as permission-based e-mail marketing and special promotions on our website. We utilize information regarding our users’ past bids, sales and purchases in order to better target the messages that we communicate through these activities.

We also conduct a variety of initiatives that focus on attracting and training sellers. We organize events such as “MercadoLibre Universities” and seller meetings in all countries where we have an office. MercadoLibre Universities are full-day sessions of approximately 100 to 250 new users where we teach how to buy and sell on the MercadoLibre marketplace. During seller meetings we teach sellers with high-potential or with MercadoLider status more advanced selling techniques and allow them to discuss issues of interest with our employees. Additionally, certain seller activities are streamed over the Internet to reach a larger audience than is possible in live meetings. We also participate in trade shows in order to build brand awareness and attract potential sellers.

The positioning of the MercadoLibre brand among Internet users is one of our key marketing concerns, and our goal is to position MercadoLibre’s name and concept as a trustworthy platform in the public’s mind. We conduct surveys every year in our key markets to gauge the position of our brand in the minds of consumers. We consistently appear at the top of the list in areas such as consumer recall and preferences for e-commerce and online trading sites. We believe this positioning is the result of a strong and gradual evolution of our marketing efforts.

Operations and technology

We believe that we have built a scalable user interface and transaction processing system that is based for the most part on internally-developed software. Our information technology platform has been designed in a horizontal architecture, which allows us to increase our processing capacity by adding more hardware which is parallel to the existing one. In this way, as our business grows, we can grow our platform with minimal disruption to the operation of our website and without having to replace equipment with more powerful and expensive hardware. Our system consists of Oracle RAC database servers running one application in one single multi-site, multi-currency, multi-look and multi-language database. We have developed in-house our own application software in Java and PL/Sql. Our operating system is Red Hat Linux.

During 2006, the MercadoLibre platform processed an average of over 17,000 database requests per second, and received an average of over 20,000 new listings and 85,000 bids per day. We also sent out an average of more than 26 million registration and transaction-related e-mails per day to our users.

We believe that our security measures reasonably assure that our systems and data are protected from third-party intrusions. A firewall protects our servers from unauthorized access, and an intrusion prevention system blocks Web attacks to our sites.

Our platform also handles all other aspects of the buying and selling process including notifying our users via e-mail of their interactions with our system. Furthermore, the system may send daily status updates to any active sellers that wish to receive a summary of activity related to their listings rather than one notification for each event. The system maintains user registration information, billing accounts, current listings and historical listings. All our data is regularly archived to our main database and to a stand-by database (in case the main one encounters an operating problem), which is updated with a lag of up to two hours of the main one. Listings of

 

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items for sale are generated upon demand. Our information technology system updates a text-based search engine every minute with the titles and descriptions of new items, as well as pricing and bidding updates for active items. Every time an item is listed on our service or a listing enhancement option is selected by a seller, our system makes an entry into the seller’s billing account. In the case of purchased items, the entry into the seller’s billing account occurs only after the parties have rated each other through our feedback system or when the time for feedback submission has expired. Our system sends electronic invoices to all sellers via e-mail every two weeks. For convenience, sellers may place a credit card account number on file with us and their account balance is billed directly. In addition to these features, we also support a number of community bulletin boards where users can interact with each other and with our support personnel.

Our system has been designed around industry standard architectures and has been designed to reduce downtime in the event of outages or catastrophic occurrences. Our MercadoLibre platform provides 24 hour, seven-day-a-week availability, subject to a short maintenance period of approximately 90 minutes every month between 3 A.M. and 6 A.M. (Argentina time) in every country. Our system hardware is hosted at the Savvis Datacenter facility in Sterling, Virginia, which provides redundant communications lines and emergency power backup. Additionally, we have a remote duplicate database in the Savvis Datacenter facility in Miami, Florida as a back-up in case the main hosting facility encounters a failure. The Savvis Datacenter also provides us with Internet connectivity, through two different Internet links. We have an additional Internet service provider (ISP). Having these different ISPs allows us to offer Internet users alternative and redundant points of access to our websites.

Due to the financial nature of MercadoPago and the online payment interface that allows users to pay for MercadoLibre marketplace commissions via credit card over the Internet, we seek to offer a high level of data security in order to build customer confidence and to protect our users’ private information. We have designed the security infrastructure for MercadoPago with the objective of protecting data from unauthorized access, both physically and over the Internet. We have incorporated multiple layers of network security and network intrusion detection devices in order to further enhance the security of MercadoPago. Components of MercadoPago communicate with each other via Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, an industry-standard communications security protocol that require mutual authentication. We store all data relating to MercadoPago users that we deem private or sensitive in encrypted form on our database. We decrypt data relating to MercadoPago users only on an as-needed basis, using a specially designated component of the system that requires authentication before fulfilling a decryption request. Our virtual private network uses Triple Data Encryption Standard (TDES) encrypting algorithms, which provide a three step method for encrypting information.

We believe our proprietary technology infrastructure is an important asset due to its robustness, cost-effectiveness and scalability. We will constantly evaluate, research and develop new hardware and software alternative techniques to further solidify our technological infrastructure.

Product development

At March 31, 2007, we had 72 employees on our information technology and product development staff, including those who work in our MercadoPago operations. We incurred product development expenses (including salaries) in the amount of $1.3 million for 2004, $2.2 million for 2005, $3.1 million for 2006 and $1.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007. We also incurred information technology capital expenditures, including software licenses, of $1.9 million

 

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for 2004, $1.9 million for 2005,$2.2 million for 2006 and $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007.

We work permanently to improve both our MercadoLibre marketplace and MercadoPago platforms so that they better serve our users’ needs and work more efficiently. A significant portion of our information technology resources is allocated to these purposes. We strive to keep the right balance between offering new features and enhancing the existing functionality and architecture of our software and hardware.

The development of new and improved features usually begins by listening to the suggestions of our community of buyers and sellers. We hold meetings periodically with both regular and highly active users to obtain feedback regarding our services and suggestions and ideas relating to possible additional features on the MercadoLibre marketplace and MercadoPago. We also receive suggestions from our chat rooms and bulletin boards. Additionally, we monitor the market for new features, formats and elements that could be adapted to our platform to improve our users’ experience.

We place significant importance in the testing and implementation phase of newly developed features. After an internal team of testers ensure that new features and upgrades are working properly, we typically involve a select group of users in using these features before we release them to the general public. Through this process we receive feedback and suggestions on how to perfect the final details of a feature. Additionally, we typically introduce new features country by country, in order to isolate and resolve any potential problems and release improved versions to subsequent countries.

The adequate management of the MercadoLibre and MercadoPago software architecture and hardware requirements is as important as introducing more and better features for our users. Because our business grows relatively fast, we must ensure that our systems are capable of absorbing this incremental volume. Therefore, our engineers work to optimize our processes and equipment by designing more effective and efficient ways to run our platforms.

We develop most of our software technology in-house. Since our inception in 1999, we have had a development center in Buenos Aires where we concentrate the majority of our development efforts. In June of 2007, we also launched a second development center in the province of San Luis in Argentina. The center is a collaborative effort with the Technological University of San Luis. In this effort, the university offers us access to dedicated development facilities and a recruiting base for potential employees.

While we have developed most of our software technology in-house, we also outsource certain projects to outside developers. We believe that this process allows us to have a greater operating capacity and strengthen our internal know-how by incorporating new expertise to our business. In addition, our team of developers frequently interacts with technology suppliers and attends technology-related events to be familiar with the latest inventions and developments in the field.

We anticipate that we will continue to devote significant resources to product development in the future as we add new features and functionality to our services. The market in which we compete is characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, frequent new service and product announcements, introductions and enhancements and changing customer demands. Accordingly, our future success will depend on our ability to adapt to rapidly changing technologies, to adapt our services to evolving industry standards and to continually improve the performance, features and reliability of our service in response to competitive service and product offerings and evolving demands of the marketplace. In addition, the widespread adoption of new Internet, networking or telecommunications technologies or other

 

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technological changes could require us to make substantial expenditures to modify or adapt our services or infrastructure. See “Risk Factors—Risks related to our business—Our future success depends on our ability to expand and adapt our operations to meet rapidly changing industry and technology standards in a cost-effective and timely manner, and on the continued market acceptance of our products and services.”

Billing and collections

Although billing is performed on a daily basis, each user is billed approximately twice every month, depending on the user’s activity level and the user’s billing calendar. We have developed a credit policy to determine different credit levels for each user depending on their payment history. Based on this policy, a user will have higher credit with us depending on the number of invoices that the user has paid on time. This is particularly important because it allows new users to start selling on the MercadoLibre marketplace without placing a credit card number on file while limiting our exposure to bad debt. The billing and collections practices are substantially the same in each country where we operate.

Bills are due five days after the issue date. We send invoices, due dates and overdue invoice reminders via e-mail, and our local collection teams in each country perform telephone reminders and follow up on large invoices. If an invoice remains unpaid for more than five days after the due date, we block the user from selling on the MercadoLibre marketplace and suspend the user’s outstanding listings until the invoice is paid. We submit invoices that are more than 45 days past-due to an external collection agency that conducts the collections process on our behalf. For invoices that are more than 240 days past-due, we proactively offer payment plans and discounts in an effort to gain the customer back. These processes allowed us to improve our collection rates over time and achieve a bad debt rate of approximately 11.9% of net revenues for 2006, and 10.2% for the three months ended March 31, 2007. Our accounts receivable at March 31, 2007 represented 11 days of our March 2007 net revenues.

Our Finance and Administration department utilizes software from SAP, AG in its accounting operations for processing accounts payable, and exercising controls of fixed assets, among other tasks. In September of 2004, we began using the SAP R/3 Enterprise program in a centralized and integrated way for all our operations. We have adapted this software to local accounting and legal norms in each of the countries where we operate.

Seasonality

Like most retail businesses, we experience the effects of seasonality throughout the calendar year. Although much of our seasonality is due to the Christmas season, the geographic diversity of our operations contributes to the mitigation of the seasonality attributed to summer vacation time ( i.e. southern and northern hemispheres) and national holidays.

Typically, the fourth quarter of the year is the strongest in every country where we operate due to the significant increase in transactions before the Christmas season. Unlike the northern hemisphere, the first quarter of the year is our slowest period. The months of January, February and March normally correspond to summer vacation time in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. Additionally, the Easter holiday falls in March or April, and Brazil celebrates Carnival for one week in February or March. This is partially mitigated by the countries located in the northern hemisphere, such as Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, the slowest months of which are the summer months of July, August and September.

 

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Competition

The market for trading over the Internet is rapidly evolving and highly competitive, and we expect competition to intensify even further in the future. Barriers-to-entry for large, established Internet companies are relatively low, and current and new competitors can launch new sites at a relatively low cost using commercially available software. We currently or potentially compete with a number of other companies. Our direct competitors include various online sales and auction services, including DeRemate in Chile and Argentina, MasOportunidades.com in Argentina, and a number of other small services, including those that serve specialty markets. We also compete with businesses that offer business-to-consumer online e-commerce services such as B2W in Brazil, and with shopping comparison sites, such as Buscape and Bondfaro, located throughout Latin America.

In addition, we face competition from a number of large online communities and services that have expertise in developing online commerce and facilitating online interaction. Some of these competitors, including Google, Amazon.com, Microsoft and Yahoo! currently offer a variety of online services, and certain of these companies may introduce online trading to their large user populations. Other large companies with strong brand recognition and experience in online commerce, such as large newspaper or media companies, may also seek to compete in the online listing market.

In September of 2001, we entered into a strategic alliance with eBay, which became one of our stockholders and started working with us to better serve the Latin American online trading community. As part of this strategic alliance, we acquired eBay’s Brazilian subsidiary at the time, iBazar, and eBay agreed not to compete with us in the region during the term of the agreement. This agreement also provided us with access to certain know-how and experience, which accelerated aspects of our development. The agreement governing our strategic alliance with eBay expired on September 24, 2006. Even though eBay is one of our stockholders, with the termination of this agreement, there are no contractual restrictions upon eBay becoming one of our competitors.

Intellectual property

We regard the protection of our copyrights, service marks, trademarks, domain names, trade dress and trade secrets as critical to our future success and rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, service mark and trade secret laws and contractual restrictions to establish and protect our proprietary rights in our products and services. We have entered into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and certain contractors. We have also established non-disclosure agreements with our employees, strategic partners and some suppliers in order to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information.

We pursue the registration of our trademarks and service marks in each country where we operate, in the United States and in certain other Latin American countries. Generally, we register the name “MercadoLibre,” “MercadoLivre,” “MercadoPago” and “MercadoSocios” as well as our handshake logo, in each country where we operate. As part of our acquisition of DeRemate, we acquired the trademarks of DeRemate throughout the countries where it operates, except for Chile and Argentina, as well as certain other jurisdictions.

We have licensed in the past, and expect that we may license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks or copyrighted material, to third parties. While we attempt to ensure that our licensees maintain the quality of the MercadoLibre brand, our licensees may

 

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take actions that could materially adversely affect the value of our proprietary rights or reputation. We also rely on certain technologies that we license from third parties, such as Oracle Corp., SAP AG, and Salesforce.com, the suppliers of key database technology, the operating system and specific hardware components for our services.

Third parties have from time to time claimed, and others may claim in the future, that we have infringed their intellectual property rights by allowing sellers to list certain items on MercadoLibre. See “Legal Proceedings” below and “Risk Factors—Risks Related to our Business—We could potentially face legal and financial liability for the sale of items that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others and for information disseminated on the MercadoLibre marketplace.”

Privacy policy

We believe that issues relating to privacy and use of personal information relating to Internet users are becoming increasingly important as the Internet and its commercial use continue to grow. We have adopted what we believe is a detailed privacy policy that complies with local legal requirements and outlines the information that we collect concerning our users and how we use it, and the extent to which other registered MercadoLibre users may have access to this information. Users must acknowledge and expressly agree to this policy when registering with the MercadoLibre marketplace. Our privacy protection practices have been certified by TRUSTe, a third party certification provider.

Although we send marketing communications to our users periodically, we ensure that they respect users’ notification preferences. When users register with us, they can opt out of receiving marketing e-mails from us. They can modify their notification preferences at any time in the “My MercadoLibre” section of our website. As with our privacy practices, we have also certified our direct marketing practices with TRUSTe.

We do not sell or rent any personally identifiable information about our users to any third party. However, we do disclose information to our sellers, buyers and winning bidders that contains the seller’s, buyer’s and winning bidder’s name, e-mail address and telephone number. We also use information about our users for internal purposes only in order to improve marketing and promotional efforts, and to improve our content, product offerings and site layout. We may also disclose information about our users in response to legal requirements. All information is stored on our servers located in the United States.

Employees

The following tables show the number of employees we had at March 31, 2007.

 

Country   

Number of

employees

Argentina

   446

Brazil

   265

Colombia

   10

Chile

   11

Mexico

   29

Venezuela

   14
    

Total

   775

 

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We manage operations in the remaining countries remotely and electronically from our headquarters in Argentina.

Our employees in Brazil are represented by an Information Technology Companies Labor Union in the State of São Paulo ( “Sindicato dos Trabalhadores nas Empresas e Cursos de Informática do Estado de São Paulo” ) and during 2007, our customer service employees in Argentina might become members of the Retail Employees Labor Union. We consider our relations with our employees to be good and we implement a variety of human resources practices, programs and policies that are designed to hire, retain, develop and compensate our employees.

We are very proud of our employees and believe that our team is one of the most important assets of our business. We believe that our employees are among the most knowledgeable in the Latin American Internet industry, and they have developed a deep understanding of our business and e-commerce in general. We have attracted and retained outstanding individuals over the years. A significant portion of our personnel has been with the company for several years, and we strive to bring more talent by hiring individuals with an Internet-related background and experience. Similarly, our future success will depend on our ability to attract and retain capable professionals. See “Risk factors—Risks related to our business—We depend on key personnel.”

In order to support our Human Resources department, we implemented SAP’s human resources module across our business. We believe this will allow us to centralize our employee database and important human resources functions, such as payroll processing, to improve our controls and reduce certain administrative costs.

 

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Facilities

Our principal administrative, marketing and product development facilities are located in our offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santana do Parnaíba and São Paulo, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico; Caracas, Venezuela; Bogotá, Colombia; and Santiago, Chile. Currently, all of our offices are occupied under lease agreements. Other than the Venezuelan office lease, the leases for our facilities do not provide for renewal options. After expiration of these leases, we can renegotiate the leases with our current landlords, or move to another location. The following table shows the location of our offices and centers, and the term of the leases under which they operate.

 

City and Country    Facility    Address    Approximate
square meters
   Lease term

Buenos Aires, Argentina

   Corporate headquarters, Argentina operation & Customer service center    Tronador 4890—floors 6 th and 8 th , Buenos Aires, 1430—Argentina    1,826    March 2010

Buenos Aires, Argentina

   Customer service center    Av. Costanera Rafael Obligado y Geronimo Salguero, Buenos Aires, Argentina    1,740    January 2012

San Luis, Argentina

   Technology Development center    Av. Universitaria s/n, Ciudad de la Punta, San Luis, Argentina    158    February 2008

São Paulo, Brazil

   Brazil operation    Rua Gomes de Carvalho, 1306 Vila Olimpia, Cep 04547-005—São Paulo, Brazil    598    December 2007

Santana do Parnaíba, Brazil

   Brazilian Customer service center    Rua Yojiro Takaoka, 4350 Cep 06541-038— Santana do Parnaíba, São Paulo, Brazil    673    October 2009

Bogotá, Colombia

   Colombia operation    Calle 93 B # 17-25 Ofc.406, Bogotá, Colombia    107    April 2008

Santiago, Chile

   Chile operation    Coronel Pereira 72, oficina 301, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile    131    April 2009

Mexico City, Mexico

   Mexico operation    Ibsen 43-101, Colonia Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo, Código Postal 11650, México D.F. México    147    December 2008

Caracas, Venezuela

   Venezuela operation    Oficina A del Piso 5 del Centro Gerencial Mohedano, Calle Los Chaguaramos con Avenida Mohedano de la Urbanización La Castellana, Municipio Chacao, Estado Miranda, Venezuela    220    February 2008

All of our properties are leased. We do not own any properties.

 

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Government regulation

A variety of laws, decrees and regulations govern our main activities in the countries where we operate. In Argentina, we are subject to e-commerce laws such as Resolution N°104/05 adopted by the Ministry of Economy and the Argentine Consumer Protection Agency, which establishes certain information requirements for Internet providers. We are also subject to Law N°25,326, as amended, and its corresponding regulations, which mandate the registration of databases with the Data Protection Agency and regulate, among other things, the type of information that can be collected, and how information can be used. In Brazil, we are subject to Law N°9,507, as amended, and its corresponding regulations, which establish, among other things, privacy requirements and the Habeas Data process, recognizes consumers’ rights to access, modify and know information collected in databases. In Chile, we are subject to Law N°19,628, as amended, and its corresponding regulations, which establish, among other things, consumers’ rights to access, modify and know information collected in databases. In Mexico, we are subject to the Ley Federal de Protección al Consumidor (Consumer Protection Federal Law), which establishes certain provisions for e-commerce transactions. We are also subject to a decree adopted on June 7, 2000 that amended and introduced provisions in the Mexican Commercial Code, Civil Federal Code and Consumer Protection Law, addressing different issues related to e-commerce, consumer affairs, digital signatures and electronic messages. In Mexico, we are also subject to law NOM-151-SCFI-2002, which establishes certain required commercial practices related to the conservation of messages with data.

We believe that the agency-based structure that we currently use for MercadoPago allows us to operate this service without obtaining any governmental authorizations or licenses or being regulated as a financial institution in the countries where we offer MercadoPago. However, as we continue to develop MercadoPago, we may need to secure governmental authorizations or licenses or comply with regulations applicable to financial institutions in the countries where we offer this service.

There are laws and regulations that address foreign currency and exchange rates in every country where we operate. We need governmental authorization to pay invoices to a foreign supplier or send money abroad only in Venezuela due to foreign exchange restrictions. See “Risk factors—Risks related to doing business in Latin America—Local currencies used in the conduct of our business are subject to depreciation, volatility and exchange controls” for more information.

At May 15, 2007, the Argentine Ministry of Economy approved MercadoLibre S.A., our wholly owned Argentine subsidiary as a beneficiary of the Argentine Regime to promote the software industry. Benefits of receiving this treatment include a 70% discount on mandatory Argentine labor taxes, a 60% reduction of Argentine income tax and a fixed federal tax rate in Argentina at the rate effective in April of 2007 until September of 2014.

Legal proceedings

From time to time, we are involved in disputes that arise in the ordinary course of our business. The number and significance of these disputes is increasing as our business expands and our company grows. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming, can result in costly litigation, require significant amounts of management time, and can result in the diversion of significant operational resources. We are subject to various tax, labor, social security and civil lawsuits and administrative proceedings which involve amounts totaling approximately $3.0 million.

 

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At December 31, 2006, we had 68 cases in litigation against our Brazilian subsidiary in the Brazilian ordinary courts. In addition, at December 31, 2006 our Brazilian subsidiary had more than 670 cases still in litigation in consumer courts, where a lawyer is not required. In most of these cases, the plaintiffs asserted that we were responsible for fraud committed against them, or responsible for damages suffered when purchasing an item on the website, when using MercadoPago, or when we invoiced them. We do not believe that any single pending lawsuit or administrative proceeding, if adversely decided, would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations, except for the proceedings described below.

At March 31, 2007, our total provisions for proceeding-related contingencies were approximately $0.4 million for 157 legal actions against us where a loss is probable. We do not reserve provisions for possible and remote losses.

On March 28, 2003, Qix Skateboards Indústria e Comércio Ltda., or Qix, sued MercadoLivre.com Atividades de Internet Ltda., our Brazilian subsidiary, in the 3 rd Civil Court, County of Novo Hamburgo, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Qix alleged that our Brazilian subsidiary was infringing Qix’s trademarks as a result of users selling allegedly counterfeit Qix shoes through the Brazilian page of our website, based on Brazilian Industrial Property Law (Law 9,279/96). Qix sought an order enjoining the sale of Qix-branded shoes on the MercadoLibre marketplace with a $50,000 daily non-compliance penalty. An injunction was granted to prohibit the offer of Qix products on our platform, but the penalty was established at $500. We appealed the decision, but the injunction was not lifted. To date, we have not received the summons for the original action because we filed an appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the court, which appeal is still pending. We believe that we have meritorious defenses, and we intend to continue defending this action.

On November 5, 2003, Editora COC Empreendimentos Culturais Ltda., or Editora COC, sued our Brazilian subsidiary in the 3 rd Civil Court of the County of Bauru, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Editora COC alleged that our Brazilian subsidiary and an identified user were both infringing Editora COC’s trademarks as a result of our users selling allegedly pirate copies of Editora’s COC CD-ROMs through the Brazilian page of our website, based on Brazilian Industrial Property Law (Law 9,279/96) and the Brazilian Copyright Law (Law 9,610/98). Editora COC sought an order for the search and seizure of products held by the user and enjoining the sale of Editora COC-branded products on our platform. An injunction was granted to prohibit the offer of Editora COC’s products on our platform. In 2005, the court ruled against us and held that we had to pay $3,000 and our co-defendant had to pay $900 in moral damages, plus an amount of material damages to be defined at judgment execution, plus attorneys’ fees in the amount of 10% of the total damages paid by each defendant. We have appealed the ruling to the relevant court of appeals, and we intend to continue defending this action.

On March 17, 2006, Vintage Denim Ltda., or Vintage, sued our Brazilian subsidiary, in the 29 th Civil Court of the County of São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Vintage requested a preliminary injunction alleging that our Brazilian subsidiary was infringing Diesel trademarks and their right of exclusive distribution as a result of sellers listing allegedly counterfeit and original imported Diesel- branded clothing through the Brazilian page of our website, based on Brazilian Industrial Property Law (Law 9,279/96). Vintage sought an order enjoining the sale of Diesel- branded clothing on our platform. An injunction was granted to prohibit the offer of Diesel- branded products. We appealed the decision, but the injunction was not lifted. We intend to present another appeal to the Superior Court of Brasilia. Vintage filed an action requesting a permanent injunction on May 12, 2006, alleging the same facts as alleged in the preliminary injunction

 

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request. In September of 2006, a $150,000 fine was imposed on our Brazilian subsidiary due to the alleged non-compliance of the preliminary injunction. We filed an appeal to the fine and requested its suspension pending a final adjudication on the merits. In October of 2006, the fine was suspended and on January 23, 2007, the fine was declared null and void. In March of 2007, Vintage presented new petitions alleging non-compliance of the preliminary injunction granted to Vintage and requested a fine of 6 million Brazilian reais (approximately $3 million) against us. On July 4, 2007, the judge ordered the payment of the fine mandated in the preliminary injunction, which was 10,000 Brazilian reais per day of non-compliance. However, to date we have not been officially notified of the amount of the fine. When we are officially notified to pay the fine, we will present a new petition against the application of the fine. We believe that we have meritorious defenses, and we intend to continue defending this action.

On April 6, 2006, Fallms Distribuição de Fitas Ltda., or Fallms, and 100% Nacional Distribuidora de Fitas Ltda., or 100% Nacional, sued our Brazilian subsidiary in the Second Civil Court of Santo Amaro, County of São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Fallms and 100% Nacional alleged that our Brazilian subsidiary was infringing their intellectual property rights as a result of users selling unauthorized copies of their copyrighted movies through the Brazilian page of our web site and by using their trademark “Brasileirinhas” on such copies. Fallms and 100% Nacional sought an order enjoining the sale of Fallms, 100% Nacional and “Brasileirinhas” branded movies on our platform. An injunction was granted to prohibit the offer of Fallms, 100% Nacional and “Brasileirinhas” branded movies. We were summoned in March of 2007 and presented our defense on March 14, 2007. In June of 2007, Fallms filed a petition to increase the fine imposed in the preliminary injunction, from 350 Brazilian reais , to 1,000 Brazilian reais per day of non-compliance, based on alleged non-compliance by our Brazilian subsidiary. On July 2, 2007, we presented a petition requesting the judge to revoke the preliminary injunction. We believe that we have meritorious defenses and we intend to continue defending this action.

On March 7, 2007, Xuxa Promoções e Produções Artísticas Ltda., or Xuxa, sued our Brazilian subsidiary in the Court of Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Xuxa, a popular television personality in Brazil, alleged that counterfeit copies of one of her CDs and of a movie with her participation as an actress (for which she owns the copyright and distribution rights) are being sold on our platform, and as such our Brazilian subsidiary is infringing her intellectual and property rights. Xuxa seeks an injunction, the establishment of preventive measures, fines, and compensatory and statutory damages. An injunction ordering the removal of any offers of copies of this CD and movie was granted to Xuxa. We appealed the injunction on July 2, 2007 and presented our defense on July 6, 2007. We believe that we have meritorious defenses, and we intend to defend this action.

We filed our first three applications to register the name “MercadoLivre” in Brazil with the Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (the National Institute of Industrial Property, or INPI) on October 7, 1999. Editora Livre Mercado Ltda., a publishing company, challenged these three applications based on their trademark “Livre Mercado,” a trade magazine. These challenges are currently pending with INPI. In addition to these processes, Agência Folha de Notícias Ltda., a news company, filed an application to register the name “MercadoLivre” on October 7, 1999, a few hours before we filed our application. We challenged that application. However, we cannot assure you that we will succeed in obtaining these trademarks or in our challenges to existing or future applications by other parties. If we are not successful, we could face claims by any future trademark owners. Any past or future claims relating to these issues, whether meritorious or not,

 

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could cause us to enter into costly royalty and/or licensing agreements. We may also have to modify our brand name in Brazil (or other jurisdictions) if any successful demands against us are too expensive. Any of these circumstances could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Other third parties have from time to time claimed, and others may claim in the future, that we have infringed their intellectual property rights. We have been notified of several potential third-party claims for intellectual property infringement through our website. These claims, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming, can be costly to resolve, could cause service upgrade delays, and could require expensive implementations of changes to our business methods to respond to these claims. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to our Business—We could potentially face legal and financial liability for the sale of items that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others and for information disseminated on the MercadoLibre marketplace.”

 

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Management

Executive officers and directors

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers and directors upon completion of the offering:

 

Name    Age    Position
 

Marcos Galperín

   35    Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Nicolás Szekasy

   42    Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Hernán Kazah

   36    Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Edgardo Sokolowicz

   41    Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer

Stelleo Tolda

   39    Senior Vice President and Country Manager—Brazil

Nicolás Galperín

   38    Director

Marcos Clutterbuck*

   36    Director

Michael Spence*

   63    Director

Emiliano Calemzuk*

   34    Director
 

 

*   Independent directors.

Alberto Delgado, Timothy Kingston and Gerardo Rosenkranz will serve as directors until the completion of this offering, at which time they will resign. All of our officers and directors hold office until their respective successors are elected at a general stockholders’ meeting and qualified or until their earlier resignation or removal. We have three directors, Marcos Clutterbuck, Michael Spence and Emiliano Calemzuk, who we consider independent under the rules of the Nasdaq Global Market, as currently in effect.

Executive officers

Marcos Galperín , one of our co-founders, has served as our Chief Executive Officer and director since we started in 1999. Prior to working with us, Mr. Galperín worked in the fixed income department of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. in New York from June to August 1998 and at YPF S.A., an integrated oil company, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was a Futures and Options Associate and managed YPF’s currency and oil derivatives program from 1994 to 1997. Mr. Galperín received an MBA from Stanford University in 1999 and graduated with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1994.

Nicolás Szekasy has served as our Chief Financial Officer since 2000. Before joining us, Mr. Szekasy was the Chief Financial Officer of Supermercados Norte S.A., one of Argentina’s largest retailers, in Buenos Aires from 1998 to 2000 and worked for seven years at Pepsico, Inc., a consumer products company, in Buenos Aires, Dallas and Mexico from 1991 to 1998, where he served as Chief Financial Officer for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and also served as Commercial Director and Strategic Planning Director. Mr. Szekasy obtained an MBA from Stanford University in 1991 and graduated from the University of Buenos Aires with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Hernán Kazah , one of our co-founders, has served as our Chief Operating Officer since our formation in 1999. Before joining MercadoLibre, Mr. Kazah worked as a consultant at Mercer Management Consulting in Boston, Massachusetts in the summer of 1998 and served as Brand

 

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Manager for Procter & Gamble Co., a consumer products company, in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay from 1994 to 1997. Mr. Kazah received an MBA from Stanford University in 1999 and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Buenos Aires with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Edgardo Sokolowicz has served as our Chief Technology Officer since January 2000. Prior to joining us, he served as Development Manager for Peoplesoft, Inc., a software company, from 1995 to 2000, Project Leader for Latin America at SADESA, S.A., a leather goods company, from 1988 to 1995, and Programming Analyst for Radio Victoria Fueguina S.A., an electronics manufacturing company, from 1985 to 1987. Mr Sokolowicz has a degree in Information Technology from the National Technological University of Argentina.

Stelleo Tolda is a Senior Vice President and has served as our Country Manager of Brazil since 1999. He is in charge of all our activities in Brazil. Before joining us, Mr. Tolda worked in several financial institutions, such as investment banks Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Lehman Brothers Inc. in the United States, in 1998 and 1999, respectively, and Banco Pactual S.A. and Banco Icatu S.A. in Brazil, from 1996 to 1997 and from 1994 to 1996, respectively. He holds an MBA from Stanford University, and a Master’s Degree and Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, also from Stanford.

Directors

Nicolás Galperín worked at Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, an investment bank, from 1993 until 2006, as a Managing Director and head of trading and risk management for the London emerging markets trading desk, as well as a trader of high-yield bonds, emerging market bonds and derivatives in New York and London. Mr. Galperín is now the principal of Onslow Capital Management Limited, an investment management company based in London, where he started working in 2006. Mr. Galperín graduated with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. Mr Galperín is the brother of Marcos Galperín, our chief executive officer.

Marcos Clutterbuck is a Partner of Hicks Trans American Partners (HTAP), an investment company, and head of its Buenos Aires Office. Mr. Clutterbuck also serves as a Principal of HM Capital Partners LLC, an investment company and an affiliate of HMTF-LA (MercadoLibre) Investments, LLC, which owns 6.1% of our common stock, and has served as a director of several companies, including CableVision S.A., Teledigital S.A., Claxson Inc., Bariloche Uno S.A., all media companies, International Outdoor Advertising Ltd., an advertising company, Editorial Atlántida S.A., a publishing company, Grupo Pilar S.A., an animal feed company, and CC Desarrollos S.A. Prior to joining HM Capital in 1998, Mr. Clutterbuck worked in consulting and banking. During that time, Mr. Clutterbuck was also an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Universidad Católica Argentina. Mr. Clutterbuck is an Economics graduate from the Universidad Católica Argentina and received his M.B.A from Stanford University.

Michael Spence is Professor Emeritus of Management in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, a partner at Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford. He served as dean of the Stanford Business School from 1990 to 1999. Dr. Spence was awarded the John Kenneth Galbraith Prize for excellence in teaching and the John Bates Clark medal for a “significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.” In 2001, Dr. Spence received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Dr. Spence earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Princeton summa cum laude and was selected

 

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for a Rhodes Scholarship. He was awarded a B.S.-M.A. from Oxford and earned his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard. He taught at Stanford as an Associate Professor of Economics from 1973 to 1975. From 1975 to 1990, he served as professor of Economics and Business Administration at Harvard, holding a joint appointment in the Business School and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In 1983, he was named chairman of the Economics Department and George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration. From 1984 to 1990, Dr. Spence served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, overseeing Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Division of Continuing Education. Dr. Spence serves on the boards of General Mills, Inc., a food products company, and a number of private companies. In the past he has served on the boards of Bank of America, Nike Inc., a sporting apparel company, Siebel Systems, Inc., a software company, Exult Inc, a human resources company, Torstar Corporation, a publishing company, and Sun Microsystems, Inc., an information technology company.

Emiliano Calemzuk currently serves as President of Fox Television Studios. From 2002 to 2007, Mr. Calemzuk served as President of Fox International Channels Italy. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Calemzuk was Vice President and Deputy Managing Director of Fox Latin American Channels and was also employed as General Manager of Fox Kids Latin America. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Calemzuk served as Associate Director of Marketing and Promotions for Fox Latin America. Prior to that, he worked at Hero Productions, a production company. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, with studies at the Wharton School of Business and the Annenberg School of Communications.

If General Atlantic purchases a significant amount of shares of common stock in this offering, it has expressed an interest in submitting to our nominating and corporate governance committee a director nominee to be considered for appointment by our board of directors after completion of this offering. See “Underwriting.”

Director independence

Our board of directors has affirmatively determined that Marcos Clutterbuck, Michael Spence and Emiliano Calemzuk meet the definition of “independent director” under Rules 4200 and 4350 of the Nasdaq Global Market listing standards.

Rules 4200 and 4350 of The Nasdaq Global Market require that a majority of our board of directors qualify as “independent” no later than the first anniversary of the completion of the offering. We are currently in compliance with these requirements. Committees need to have at least one independent member upon completion of this offering, a majority of independent directors within 90 days of completion of this offering and all independent members within one year of completion of this offering. We intend to comply with these requirements for each of our committees.

Family relationships

Our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Marcos Galperín, and one of our directors, Mr. Nicolás Galperín, are brothers. There is no other family relationship between our directors and executive officers.

Board of directors

Composition of our board of directors upon completion of this offering

Our bylaws provide that our board of directors shall consist of such number of directors as determined from time to time by resolution of the board. Upon completion of this offering, the

 

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board of directors will consist of five members, one of whom is our president and chief executive officer. Our board of directors will be divided into three classes, each of which will be up for re-election every three years, as follows:

 

 

Class I, which will initially consist of Michael Spence, whose term will expire at our annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2008;

 

 

Class II, which will initially consist of Nicolas Galperín and Marcos Clutterbuck, whose terms will expire at our annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2009;

 

 

Class III, which will initially consist of Marcos Galperín and Emiliano Calemzuk, whose terms will expire at our annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2010.

Each director is elected for a term of three years and serves until a successor is duly elected and qualified or until his or her death, resignation or removal. Any additional directorships resulting from an increase in the number of directors or a vacancy may only be filled by the directors then in office. Our board of directors has the authority to appoint committees to perform certain management and administration functions.

Board committees

Upon completion of this offering, our board of directors will have three committees: the audit committee, the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee. The board of directors will have adopted a written charter for each of these committees, effective upon completion of this offering.

Audit committee

Upon completion of this offering, we will have an audit committee consisting of Marcos Clutterbuck, Nicolas Galperín and Marcos Galperín. The audit committee will be responsible for:

 

 

reviewing the performance of the independent accountants and making recommendations to the board of directors regarding the appointment or termination of the independent accountants;

 

 

considering and approving, in advance, all audit and non-audit services to be performed by the independent accountants;

 

 

overseeing management’s establishment and maintenance of our accounting and financial reporting processes and the audits of our financial statements;

 

 

establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal control or auditing matters and the confidential, anonymous submission by our employees of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters;

 

 

investigating any matter brought to its attention within the scope of its duties and engaging independent counsel and other advisers as the audit committee deems necessary;

 

 

determining compensation of the independent auditors, compensation of advisors hired by the audit committee and ordinary administrative expenses;

 

 

reviewing annual and quarterly financial statements prior to their release;

 

 

reviewing and assessing the adequacy of a formal written charter on an annual basis; and

 

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handling such other matters that are specifically delegated to the audit committee by our board of directors from time to time.

The SEC rules and Nasdaq Global Market rules require us to have one independent audit committee member upon initial listing of our securities, a majority of independent audit committee members within 90 days of the initial listing of our securities and all independent audit committee members within one year of the initial listing of our securities. We intend to comply with these independence requirements within the time periods specified.

The charter for our audit committee will be posted on our website upon completion of this offering.

Compensation committee

Upon completion of this offering, we will have a compensation committee consisting of Emiliano Calemzuk, Marcos Clutterbuck and Marcos Galperín. The compensation committee will be responsible for:

 

 

recommending to our board of directors for determination, the compensation and benefits of all of our executive officers and key employees;

 

 

monitoring and reviewing our compensation and benefit plans to ensure that they meet corporate objectives;

 

 

administering our stock plans and other incentive compensation plans and preparing recommendations and periodic reports to the board of directors concerning these matters; and

 

 

such other matters that are specifically delegated to the compensation committee by our board of directors from time to time.

The SEC rules and Nasdaq Global Market rules require us to have one independent compensation committee member upon initial listing of our securities, a majority of independent compensation committee members within 90 days of the initial listing of our securities and all independent compensation committee members within one year of the initial listing of our securities. We intend to comply with these independence requirements within the time periods specified.

Our board of directors will adopt a written charter for our compensation committee, which will be posted on our website.

Nominating and corporate governance committee

Upon completion of this offering, we will have a nominating and corporate governance committee consisting of Michael Spence, Emiliano Calemzuk and Marcos Galperín. The nominating and corporate governance committee will be responsible for:

 

 

recommending to our board of directors for selection, nominees for election to our board of directors;

 

 

making recommendations to our board of directors regarding the size and composition of the board, committee structure and makeup and retirement procedures affecting board members;

 

 

monitoring our performance in meeting our obligations of fairness in internal and external matters and our principles of corporate governance; and

 

 

such other matters that are specifically delegated to the nominating and corporate governance committee by our board of directors from time to time.

 

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Our board of directors will adopt a written charter for our nominating and corporate governance committee, which will be posted on our website.

In selecting director nominees for recommendation to the board of directors, the nominating and corporate governance committee will consider the following factors:

 

 

the appropriate size and diversity of our board of directors;

 

 

our needs with respect to the particular talents and experience of directors;

 

 

the knowledge, skills and experience of nominees, including experience in technology, e-commerce, business, finance, administration, sales, in light of the prevailing business conditions and the knowledge, skills and experience already possessed by other members of the board of directors;

 

 

familiarity with Latin American business matters and experience in political affairs;

 

 

experience with accounting rules and practices, and whether such a person qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” pursuant to SEC rules; and

 

 

balancing continuity of our board of directors with periodic injection of fresh perspectives provided by new board members.

In identifying director nominees, the nominating and corporate governance committee will first evaluate the current members of the board of directors willing to continue in service. Current members of the board of directors with skills and experience that are relevant to our business and who are willing to continue in service shall be considered for re-nomination. If any member of the board of directors does not wish to continue in service or if the committee or the board of directors decides not to re-nominate a member for re-election, the committee will identify the desired skills and experience of a new nominee in light of the criteria above. Generally, the committee strives to assemble a board of directors that brings to us a variety of perspectives and skills derived from business and professional experience. In doing so, the committee will also consider candidates with appropriate non-business backgrounds. Other than the foregoing, there are no specific, minimum qualifications that the committee believes that a recommended nominee must possess, although the committee may also consider such other factors as it may deem are in our and our stockholders’ best interests.

Number of and attendance at board of director meetings

During the fiscal year 2006, there were seven board of directors meetings. Each of Gerardo Rosenkranz, Timothy Kingston, Michael Spence and Marcos Clutterbuck attended less than 70% of those meetings.

Compensation committee interlocks and insider participation

None of our executive officers serves as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee (or other committee performing equivalent functions) of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors or compensation committee. No interlocking relationship exists between any member of the board of directors or any member of the compensation committee (or other committee performing equivalent functions) of any other company.

 

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Compensation discussion and analysis

The primary goals of our compensation committee with respect to executive compensation are to attract and retain the most talented and dedicated executive officers possible, to assure that our executive officers are compensated effectively in a manner consistent with our strategy and competitive practice and to align executive officers’ incentives with stockholder value creation. To achieve these goals, our compensation committee, with management’s input, recommends executive compensation packages to our board of directors that are generally based on a mix of salary and discretionary bonus tied to performance. Although our compensation committee has not adopted any formal guidelines for allocating total compensation between equity compensation and cash compensation, we believe it is important for these executive officers to also have some equity ownership in our company to provide them with long-term incentives to build value for our stockholders. Accordingly, since 1999 we have granted our principal executive officers certain equity awards. We believe that the awards made to date are sufficient to provide these long-term incentives. We intend to implement and maintain compensation plans that tie a substantial portion of our executive officers’ overall compensation to achievement of corporate goals and value-creating milestones. We believe that a performance-based compensation is an important component of the total executive compensation package for maximizing stockholder value while, at the same time, attracting, motivating and retaining high-quality executive officers.

We have not retained a compensation consultant to review our policies and procedures with respect to executive compensation. We conduct an annual review of the aggregate level of our executive compensation, as well as the mix of elements used to compensate our executive officers. For benchmarking executive compensation, we typically review the compensation data we have collected from publicly available sources.

Elements of compensation

Our compensation committee evaluates individual executive officer performance with a goal of setting compensation at levels the compensation committee believes are comparable with executive officers in other companies of similar size and stage of development operating in the e-commerce industry and/or the Latin American market. The compensation received by our executive officers consists of the following elements:

Base salary .    Base salaries for our executive officers are established based on the scope of their responsibilities and individual experience, taking into account competitive market compensation paid by other companies for similar positions within our industry and geographic market. Base salaries are reviewed at least annually, and adjusted from time to time to realign salaries with market levels after taking into account individual responsibilities, performance and experience.

Discretionary annual bonus .    In addition to base salaries, our executive officers are awarded discretionary annual bonuses. The annual incentive bonuses are intended to compensate officers for achieving corporate goals and for achieving what the board of directors believes to be value-creating milestones. Our annual bonus is paid in cash in an amount reviewed and approved by our board of directors. Each executive officer is eligible for a discretionary annual bonus up to an amount equal to 115% of such executive officer’s salary if the executive officer is an Executive Vice-President and 62% if the executive officer is a Senior Vice-President.

The compensation committee intends to utilize annual incentive bonuses to compensate officers for achieving financial and operational goals and for achieving individual annual performance

 

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objectives. These objectives could vary depending on the individual executive officer, but will relate generally to financial and operational targets.

Long-term incentives .    We believe that currently, the salary and performance bonus components of executive compensation, as well as the stock that executive officers currently hold, are sufficient to align the interests of our executive officers with those of our stockholders. In the past we have granted stock options and equity awards to our executive officers through our Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan, which was adopted by our board of directors to permit the grant of stock options to our employees. Upon completion of this offering we will have approximately 300,000 shares of common stock available for issuance under that plan. The board of directors has considered outstanding job performance, contributions to our company and achievement of certain benchmarks in granting past awards. We have not adopted stock ownership guidelines and our Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan has provided the principal method for our executive officers to acquire equity or equity-linked interests in our company in the past.

We do not have any program, plan or obligation that requires us to grant equity compensation on specified dates and, because we have not been a public company, we have not made equity grants in connection with the release or withholding of material non-public information. Authority to make equity grants to executive officers rests with our board of directors, although it considers the recommendations of the compensation committee and the chief executive officer for officers other than himself.

Other compensation and benefits .    We maintain broad-based benefits that are provided to certain full-time employees, including health insurance, mobile telephones, parking spaces and subsidized English and/or Portuguese lessons. We also provide life insurance policies for some of our employees in Brazil. In certain cases, if an employee is asked to relocate temporarily to another country office, we will facilitate such employee’s relocation by acting as guarantors in residential apartment lease agreements and paying for relocation expenses.

2006 summary compensation table

The following table sets forth compensation information for our chief executive officer, our chief financial officer, and our three other most highly compensated officers for the year ended December 31, 2006. These executive officers are referred to as the “named executive officers” elsewhere in this prospectus. Except as provided below, none of our named executive officers received any other compensation required to be disclosed by law or in excess of $10,000 annually.

 

       2006 annual
compensation
   Long term
compensation
awards
   All other
compensation
   Total
Name and principal position    Salary    Bonus(1)    Stock
awards
   Option
awards
     
 

Marcos Galperín

Chief executive officer

   $ 159,900    $ 123,036             $ 282,936

Nicolás Szekasy

Chief financial officer

   $ 154,050    $ 123,562             $ 277,612

Hernán Kazah

Chief operating officer

   $ 154,050    $ 121,983             $ 276,033

Edgardo Sokolowicz

Chief technology officer

   $ 101,127    $ 40,507             $ 141,634

Stelleo Tolda

Country manager Brazil

   $ 152,447    $ 69,551             $ 221,998

 

(1)   Bonuses for 2006 were paid in May of 2007.

 

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Employment agreements

We have previously entered into employment agreements with each of the above-listed executive officers.

The term of each of these employment agreement is for an undetermined period.

Each executive officer party to the employment agreements is entitled to receive the base salary set forth in such executive officer’s employment agreement, subject to the raises that we have awarded to those executive officers throughout the terms of their employment. In addition to base salary, the executive officers may receive bonus compensation as we, in our sole discretion, elect to pay them in accordance with the bonus plan policy. The executive officers are also entitled to reimbursement for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses that they incur on our behalf in the performance of their duties as executive officers.

The employment agreements provide that, during an executive officer’s employment and for so long afterwards as any pertinent information remains confidential, such executive officer will not use or disclose any confidential information that we use, develop or obtain. The agreements provide that all work product relating to our business belongs to us or our subsidiaries, and the executive officer will promptly disclose such work product to us and provide reasonable assistance in connection with the defense of such work product.

The agreements also provide that, during an executive officer’s employment, and for a period of one year after the end of an executive officer’s employment in the event of termination without “just cause,” and two years in the event of resignation or termination for “just cause” (the “non-competition period”), the executive officer will not (1) compete directly or indirectly with us, (2) induce our or our subsidiaries’ employees to terminate their employment with us or to engage in any competitive business or (3) solicit or do business with any of our present, past or prospective customers or the customers of our subsidiaries.

2006 grants of plan-based awards

There were no grants of options or shares to executive officers during the year ended December 31, 2006.

Outstanding equity awards at December 31, 2006

 

       Number of securities underlying
unexercised options and warrants
             
Name    Exercisable    Unexercisable    Unearned   

Option

exercise price

   Option
expiration date
 

Marcos Galperín

                

Nicolás Szekasy

                

Hernán Kazah

                

Edgardo Sokolowicz

                

Stelleo Tolda

   217,187       7,813    $ 0.01    (1)

 

(1)   Of a total number of 225,000 options, 100,000 expire on November 30, 2009, 100,000 on December 31, 2011 and 25,000 on December 31, 2013.

 

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Exercise of stock options and stock vested during 2006

No stock options were exercised by executive officers and no stock held by executive officers vested during the period from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006. During the first quarter of 2007, no stock options were exercised by executive officers.

Our stock and stock option plans

Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan

Our Stock Option Plan was adopted by the Board of Directors on November 3, 1999 and amended in June of 2000. The Stock Option Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, within the meaning of Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), to our employees, and non-qualified stock options and restricted stock to our employees, directors, agents, advisors, independent consultants and contractors. Incentive stock options and non-qualified stock options are referred to as “stock options,” and together with restricted stock are referred to as “awards.” At March 31, 2007, options to purchase a total of 627,581 shares of common stock were outstanding at a weighted average price of $0.33 per share. The Stock Option Plan will terminate on November 3, 2009 or earlier if so determined by our board of directors.

Number of shares of common stock available under the stock option plan .    A total of 4,732,400 shares of common stock were reserved for issuance pursuant to the Stock Option Plan. Shares covered by awards that are forfeited or terminated without exercise will be available for future awards. The shares of common stock issuable under the Stock Option Plan shall be (1) authorized but unissued shares, (2) shares of common stock held in our treasury, or (3) a combination of (1) and (2).

Administration of the stock option plan .    The Stock Option Plan is administered by our board of directors or a committee appointed by the board of directors (the body in charge of administering the Stock Option Plan is referred to as the “administrator”). If the common stock is registered under Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the Exchange Act, the board shall consider in selecting the administrator and the membership of any committee acting as administrator the provisions of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code regarding “outside directors” and the provisions of Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act regarding “non-employee directors.” The administrator determines the recipients of awards, times at which awards are granted, number of shares subject to each type of award, the time for vesting of each award and the duration of the exercise period for options.

Price, exercise and termination of awards .    The exercise price for each share of common stock subject to an option is determined by the administrator, and in the case of an incentive stock option the exercise price cannot be less than 100% of the fair market value of the shares of common stock on the date of the grant (or 110% in the case of employees who directly or indirectly own more than 10% of the total combined voting power of all classes of our stock).

 

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Options are exercisable on their vesting date, which is determined by the administrator and set forth in the Award Agreement governing any particular option. Vesting dates can be accelerated on the occurrence of a specified event, as provided in an Award Agreement, or can be accelerated at the discretion of the administrator.

If a participant in the Stock Option Plan ceases to be employed or perform services for us, we have the right to repurchase any unvested shares at the exercise price paid per share. The terms and procedures of a repurchase are to be set forth in the Award Agreement that governs the relevant unvested shares.

If an option expires or is terminated or canceled without having been exercised it shall become null and void and of no further force and effect. The term of an option may not exceed beyond the tenth anniversary on which the option is granted (or the fifth anniversary in the case of incentive stock options granted to employees who directly or indirectly own 10% of the total combined voting power of all classes of our stock.) An option terminates 30 days after a participant ceases to be an employee or director as a result of a termination without cause, and after 10 days of termination in the case of a termination for cause. Cause includes the conviction of a crime involving fraud, theft, dishonesty or moral turpitude, the participant’s continuous disregard of or willful misconduct in carrying lawful instructions of superiors, continued use of alcohol or drugs that interfered with the performance of the participant’s duties, the conviction of participant for committing a felony or similar foreign crime, and any other cause for termination set forth in a participant’s employment agreement. An option terminates 10 days after a participant ceases to be an independent consultant, contractor or advisor to us or agent of ours for any reason. It also terminates three months after the death or permanent disability of a participant, or, if the participant is a party to an employment agreement, the disability of such participant as defined in the employment agreement. Other reasons for termination may be set out in the Award Agreement.

An option will not be considered an incentive stock option to the extent that the aggregate fair market value (on the date of the grant of the incentive stock option) of all stock with respect to which incentive stock options are exercisable for the first time by a participant during any calendar year is greater than $100,000. No option shall be affected by a change of duties or position of a participant (including transfer to our subsidiaries) as long as the participant continues to be our employee or an employee of our subsidiaries.

Adjustments upon the occurrence of material transactions .    In the event we undergo dissolution or liquidation, a reorganization, merger or consolidation in which we are not the surviving entity, or a sale of all or substantially all of our assets (each, a “Material Transaction”) holders of options will be given 10-day prior written notice and will decide within those 10 days whether to exercise their respective options. Any option that is not so exercised will terminate. However, such notice and exercise mechanism would not apply if provision is made in connection with a Material Transaction for assumption of outstanding options, or substitution of options for new options or equity securities, with any appropriate adjustments as to the number, kind and prices of shares subject to options.

Transferability .    Unless the prior written consent of the administrator is obtained, no option can be assigned or otherwise transferred by any participant except by will or by the laws of descent and distribution. Except in the case of an approved transfer, an option may be exercised during the lifetime of a participant only by the participant or his/her legal representative if the participant is legally disabled.

 

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Restricted stock .    Restricted stock awards are awards of shares of common stock that vest according to the terms and conditions established by the administrator. The administrator may impose whatever restrictions on transferability, risk of forfeiture and other restrictions as it determines. A holder of restricted stock has the rights of a stockholder, including the right to vote the restricted stock. During the restricted period applicable to the restricted stock, it may not be sold, transferred, pledged, hypothecated, margined or otherwise encumbered. Except as otherwise determined by the administrator, restricted stock that is subject to restrictions is subject to forfeiture upon termination of a participant’s employment.

Amendment .    The Board of Directors may modify the Stock Option Plan at any time. The approval by a majority of our stockholders is necessary if required by law or necessary to comply with any applicable laws and regulations. No amendment will affect the terms of any award granted prior to the effectiveness of such amendment, except with the consent of the holder of the award.

Pension benefits

We do not have any plan that provides for payments or other benefits at, following, or in connection with the retirement of any of our employees. However, as required by law in certain countries where we operate, we deduct a percentage of each employee’s salary, including our executive officers, and remit it to governmental social security agencies or private pension fund administrators, depending on the regulatory regime established in each country.

Nonqualified defined contribution and other nonqualified deferred compensation plans

We do not have any defined contribution or other plan that provides for the deferral of compensation on a basis that is not tax-qualified.

Potential payments upon termination or change in control

We may terminate an executive officer’s employment in the event that we determine, in our sole discretion, that there is “just cause” (as defined below). If we terminate an executive officer’s employment for “just cause,” such executive officer will not be entitled to receive any severance benefits, except for severance obligations mandated under the laws of the country where the executive officer resides. If we terminate the executive officer’s employment without “just cause,” such executive officer shall be entitled to a severance payment in an amount equal to one year’s gross base salary.

“Just cause” means and includes (1) the commission by the executive officer of any gross misconduct or any offense serious enough for the relationship to become impossible to continue, including without limitation, the executive officer’s willful and continuing disregard of the lawful written instructions of our board of directors or such executive officer’s superiors, (2) any action or any omission by the executive officer, resulting in such executive officer’s breach of his duty of loyalty or any act of self-dealing, (3) any material breach by the executive officer of his duties and obligations under the employment agreement as decided by our board of directors and (4) the executive officer’s conviction, in our board of director’s sole discretion, of any serious crime or offense for violating any law (including, without limitation, theft, fraud, paying directly or indirectly bribes or kick-backs to government officials, the crimes set forth in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 or the foreign equivalent thereof and the executive officer’s embezzlement of funds of the company and any of our affiliates.)

 

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In September of 2001, we implemented the 2001 Management Incentive Bonus Plan, or the Incentive Plan. As established in the Incentive Plan, our Chief Executive Officer established which officers would be eligible for the Incentive Plan. Pursuant to the Incentive Plan, in the event our company is sold, the eligible officers, as a group, are entitled to receive a “sale bonus” and a “stay bonus.” If the purchase price is equal to or greater than $20,000,000 then the eligible officers are entitled to receive (1) a sale bonus equal to 5.5% of the purchase price and (2) a stay bonus equal to 7.1% of the purchase price, subject in both cases to a maximum combined cap of $78,335,000. If the purchase price is less than $20,000,000, then the eligible officers, as a group, are entitled to receive the “stay bonus” only. The bonuses are divided between the eligible officers according to the participation percentages established by our Chief Executive Officer, in accordance with the Incentive Plan. A public offering of stock, such as this offering, does not constitute a sale of our company under the Incentive Plan.

2006 director compensation

We have not provided cash compensation to directors for their services as directors or members of committees of our board of directors. However, we may reimburse directors in the future for their reasonable expenses incurred in attending meetings of our board of directors and of committees of our board of directors. We do not intend to provide any compensation to directors for their services as directors or members of committees of our board of directors, with the exception of Mr. Emiliano Calemzuk. We expect to pay Mr. Calemzuk this director for his services as a director an amount of approximately $30,000 per year.

In 2000, we granted Michael Spence 100,000 restricted shares of our common stock, which vested by the fourth anniversary of the award date. In 2001, Mr. Spence was granted 1.8% of the 5.5% sale bonus under our 2001 Management Incentive Bonus Plan.

Director and officer indemnification and limitation on liability

Our certificate of incorporation provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law and except as otherwise provided in our bylaws, none of our directors shall be liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for a breach of fiduciary duty. In addition, our certificate of incorporation provides for indemnification of any person who was or is made, or threatened to be made, a party to any action, suit or other proceeding, whether criminal, civil, administrative or investigative, because of his or her status as a director or officer of MercadoLibre, or service as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise at our request to the fullest extent authorized under the Delaware General Corporation Law against all expenses, liabilities and losses reasonably incurred by such person. Further, our certificate of incorporation provides that we may purchase and maintain insurance on our own behalf and on behalf of any other person who is or was a director, officer or agent of MercadoLibre or was serving at our request as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise.

We have been advised that in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable. In the event that a claim

 

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for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by us of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, we will, unless in the opinion of our counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction in the question whether such indemnification by us is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of the directors and officers of our local subsidiaries. These agreements require us to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted by the laws of the countries where our local subsidiaries operate, for certain liabilities to which they may become subject due to their position as directors or officers in our subsidiaries.

Code of ethics

We expect to adopt a code of business conduct and ethics upon completion of this offering relating to the conduct of our business by our employees, officers and directors.

 

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Principal stockholders

The following tables set forth information, as of the date of this prospectus, regarding the beneficial ownership of our equity securities: (1) immediately prior to the consummation of this offering and after the conversion of our preferred stock into common stock; and (2) as adjusted to reflect the sale of the shares of common stock in this offering by:

 

 

each person that is a beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding equity securities;

 

each of our named executive officers;

 

each of our directors; and

 

all directors and named executive officers as a group.

Beneficial ownership is determined under the rules of the SEC and generally includes voting or investment power over securities. Except in cases where community property laws apply or as indicated in the footnotes to this table, we believe that each stockholder identified in the table possesses sole voting and investment power over all shares of equity securities shown as beneficially owned by the stockholder. Percentage of beneficial ownership is based on              shares of our equity securities outstanding as of the date of this prospectus, and 43,835,263 shares of equity securities outstanding after the completion of this offering. Shares of common stock subject to options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within 60 days of the date of this prospectus are considered outstanding and beneficially owned by the person holding the options for the purposes of computing the percentage ownership of that person but are not treated as outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of any other person. Each column in the table gives effect to the conversion of our different series of common stock and preferred stock into one single class of common stock. Unless indicated otherwise in the footnotes, the address of each individual listed in the table is c/o MercadoLibre, Inc., Tronador 4890, 8th Floor, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 

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Shares of

common stock
beneficially

owned prior to
offering(1)

  

Shares of

common stock
beneficially
owned after

offering(2)

Name    Number    Percentage    Number    Percentage
 

Five percent stockholders:

           

eBay Inc.

   8,126,062    19.7%    8,126,062    18.5%

HMTF-LA (MercadoLibre) Investments, LLC(3)

   2,519,644    6.1    1,971,896    4.5

J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA), L.P.(4)

   6,156,858    14.9    803,068    1.8

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

   2,211,278    5.4    288,427    *

Marcos Galperín(5)

   7,823,191    19.0    6,036,758    13.8

Directors and named executive officers:

           

Marcos Galperín(5)

   7,823,191    19.0%    6,036,758    13.8%

Nicolás Szekasy

   560,000    1.4    316,522    *

Hernán Kazah

   793,070    1.9    413,331    *

Edgardo Sokolowicz

   200,000    *    113,043    *

Stelleo Tolda

   220,313    *    124,524    *

Marcos Clutterbuck

   0    *    0    *

Nicolás Galperín

   0    *    0    *

Michael Spence

   100,000    *    100,000    *

Gerardo Rosenkranz(6)

   0    *    0    *

Alberto Delgado(6)

   0    *    0    *

Timothy Kingston(6)

   0    *    0    *

Emiliano Calemzuk(7)

   0    *    0    *

All directors and named executive officers as a group (9 persons)

   9,696,574    23.5%    7,104,178    16.2%

 

*   Less than 1%.

 

(1)   All shares of all series of our preferred stock outstanding prior to completion of this offering convert into the same number of shares of our common stock upon completion of a public offering such as this one pursuant to our Certificate of Incorporation in effect prior to this offering. The table assumes that the shares of preferred stock have been converted into shares of our common stock.

 

(2)   Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares.

 

(3)   Includes 36,855 shares to be issued upon exercise of outstanding warrants at the closing of this offering.

 

(4)   Includes 65,722 shares to be issued upon exercise of outstanding warrants at the closing of this offering.

 

(5)   Includes 54,398 shares to be issued upon exercise of outstanding warrants at the closing of this offering.

 

(6)   To resign upon completion of this offering. By virtue of the affiliation of Mr. Rosenkranz with Luna Ventures LLC and Ventech LLC, Mr. Delgado with J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA), L.P. and Mr. Kingston with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., they may be deemed to have or share beneficial ownership of shares of our common stock beneficially owned by such entities. Each of Messrs. Rosenkranz, Delgado and Kingston expressly disclaims beneficial ownership of such common stock.

 

(7)   To be appointed a director upon completion of this offering.

 

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Selling stockholders

The following table sets forth information provided to us with respect to the selling stockholders and shares of our common stock beneficially owned by the selling stockholders that the selling stockholders propose to offer pursuant to this prospectus.

The shares of common stock offered by the selling stockholders pursuant to this prospectus were originally issued and sold by us in private placements. The term selling stockholders includes the holders of our common stock listed below and the beneficial owners of the common stock and their transferees, pledgees, donees or other successors.

 

     

Shares of common

stock beneficially

owned prior to offering(1)

   

Shares of

common stock

being offered(2)

   

Shares of common

stock beneficially
owned after offering(2)

 
Name   Number   Percentage     Number   Percentage     Number   Percentage  
   

Selling stockholders:

           

Arnt, Pedro(3)

  190,000   * %   121,739   * %   68,261   * %

Arregui, Maria Paula(3)

  12,250   *     10,652   *     1,598   *  

Batista, Nelson Lima

  6,263   *     5,446   *     817   *  

Benzaquen, Rodrigo(3)

  20,000   *     17,391   *     2,609   *  

Bergamo, Rosana(3)

  10,000   *     8,696   *     1,304   *  

Berman, Nicolas(3)

  39,000   *     18,261   *     20,739   *  

Brasil Lima, Marco Aurelio(3)

  1,410   *     1,043   *     367   *  

Brenner, Andrew

  6,142   *     2,670   *     3,472   *  

Bueno, Marcos(3)

  147   *     128   *     19   *  

Cano, Javier

  20,000   *     10,435   *     9,565   *  

Cattanio, Fernando(3)

  500   *     435   *     65   *  

Ceballos, Francisco(3)

  185,000   *     117,391   *     67,609   *  

Ciarnuto, Valeria(4)

  10,000   *     8,695   *     1,305   *  

Cohen Imach, Jacobo(3)

  24,000   *     14,783   *     9,217   *  

Cormenzana, Ramiro(3)

  20,670   *     17,974   *     2,696   *  

Davila, Mario(3)

  23,750   *     17,391   *     6,359   *  

De la Serna, Juan Martin(3)

  153,000   *     98,261   *     54,739   *  

Di Chello, Hernan(3)

  8,200   *     5,391   *     2,809   *  

Falcon, Eduardo(3)

  13,000   *     11,304   *     1,696   *  

Falsetti, Mauro(3)

  1,375   *     1,043   *     332   *  

Fernandez Silva, Sebastian(3)

  1,300   *     1,130   *     170   *  

Fernandez, Sonia

  100,000   *     60,870   *     39,130   *  

Figuereido, Roberta

  6,337   *     4,467   *     1,870   *  

Flatiron Associates II LLC(13)

  17,400   *     15,130   *     2,270   *  

Flatiron Associates LLC(13)

  46,741   *     40,020   *     6,721   *  

Furtado, Renato Nunes(3)

  750   *     87   *     663   *  

Gallone, Martin(3)

  6,850   *     5,957   *     893   *  

Galperin, Marcos(5)

  7,823,191   19.0     1,786,433   4.3     6,036,758   13.8  

GGG Partners(17)

  180,001   *     34,783   *     145,218   *  

Gimenez, Osvaldo(3)

  214,687   *     134,783   *     79,904   *  

Giraldo, Ignacio

  90,000   *     47,826   *     42,174   *  

Giuliani, Federico(3)

  10,005   *     6,870   *     3,135   *  

Goldman Sachs & Co. Verwaltungs GmbH(14)

  77,274   *     67,195   *     10,079   *  

 

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Shares of common

stock beneficially

owned prior to offering(1)

 

Shares of

common stock

being offered(2)

 

Shares of common

stock beneficially
owned after offering(2)

Name   Number   Percentage   Number   Percentage   Number   Percentage

Gomizelj, Emilio(3)

  27,625   *   14,783   *   12,842   *

GS Capital Partners III Offshore, L.P.(14)

  460,160   1.1   400,139   1.0   60,021   *

GS Capital Partners III, L.P.(14)

  1,673,844   4.1   1,455,517   3.5   218,327   *

Herrera, Marcelino(3)

  2,750   *   652   *   2,098   *

HMTF-LA (MercadoLibre) Investments LLC(12)

  2,519,644   6.1   547,748   1.3   1,971,896   4.5

Holmberg, Hans(3)

  1,125   *   978   *   147   *

Huesca, Luis(3)

  1,750   *   870   *   880   *

J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA), L.P.(11)

  6,156,858   14.9   5,353,790   13.0   803,068   1.8

Jaime, Laura

  7,638   *   6,642   *   996   *

Kazah, Hernan(6)

  793,070   1.9   379,739   *   413,331   *

Kell, Flavia(3)

  250   *   217   *   33   *

Lawson, Martin(3)

  150,000   *   104,348   *   45,652   *

Lemos, Helisson(3)

  25,306   *   6,674   *   18,632   *

Lermax S.A.(10)

  645,370   1.6   260,870   *   384,500   *

Lombardo, Maria Belen(3)

  4,205   *   2,696   *   1,509   *

Lozano, Nemesio(3)

  1,375   *   1,196   *   179   *

Luna Ventures LLC(16)

  182,873   *   30,435   *   152,438   *

Luz, Alfredo(3)

  100   *   87   *   13   *

Maratos, Jason

  61,424   *   21,739   *   39,685   *

Martinez, Camilo

  136,855   *   119,004   *   17,851   *

Melchiorre, Anthony

  98,279   *   65,217   *   33,062   *

Naranjo, Eliana

  31,025   *   26,978   *   4,047   *

Olmi, Martin(3)

  300   *   261   *   39   *

Ovalle, Juan Miguel(4)

  10,500   *   9,130   *   1,370   *

Petrick, Michael

  55,282   *   24,036   *   31,246   *

Rabinovich, Daniel(3)

  8,000   *   6,957   *   1,043   *

Romero, Angela

  3,000   *   2,609   *   391   *

Rossi, Rodolfo Jose Carlos(4)

  378   *   329   *   49   *

Sipprelle, Dwight

  98,279   *   85,460   *   12,819   *

Sokolowicz, Edgardo(7)

  200,000   *   86,957   *   113,043   *

Szekasy, Nicolas(8)

  560,000   1.4   243,478   *   316,522   *

Szwarcman, Jonathan E.(3)

  750   *   652   *   98   *

The 1974 Penguin Holdings Ltd.(15)

  65,000   *   56,522   *   8,478   *

The Flatiron Funds LLC(13)

  1,379,829   3.3   1,199,851   2.9   179,978   *

Tolda, Stelleo(9)

  220,313   *   95,789   *   124,524   *

Torruco Valero, Aldeny

  8,654   *   7,525   *   1,129   *

Vasquez, Ulises

  6,757   *   1,763   *   4,994   *

Ventech LLC(16)

  182,873   *   30,435   *   152,438   *

Vidaguren, Ignacio(3)

  217,500   *   121,739   *   95,761   *

 

*   Less than 1%.
(1)   All shares of all series of our preferred stock outstanding prior to this offering convert to the same number of shares of common stock upon a public offering such as this one. The table assumes that the shares of preferred stock have been converted to shares of common stock because at the time of this offering they will be automatically converted pursuant to our Certificate of Incorporation in effect prior to this offering.

 

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(2)   Assumes no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares.

 

(3)   Currently employed by us.

 

(4)   Formerly employed by us within the past three years.

 

(5)   Chief Executive Officer of our company.

 

(6)   Chief Operating Officer of our company.

 

(7)   Chief Technology Officer of our company.

 

(8)   Chief Financial Officer of our company.

 

(9)   Country Manager for Brazil of our company.

 

(10)   This stockholder has advised us that the person with voting or investment power over these shares is Carlos Israel Bustin Sosa.

 

(11)   This stockholder has advised us that the person with voting or investment power over these shares is JPMP Capital Corp. No single individual has voting or investment power. Alberto Delgado, one of our directors, is a Principal of CCMP Capital Partners LLC, a former affiliate of this stockholder.

 

(12)   This stockholder has advised us that the persons with voting or investment power over these shares are John R. Muse, Thomas O. Hicks, and Jack D. Furst, acting as a three-person committee. Marcos Clutterbuck, one of our directors, is a Principal of HM Capital Partners LLC, an affiliate of this stockholder.
(13)   This stockholder has advised us that the persons with voting or investment power over these shares are Fred Wilson, Bob Greene and Jerry Colonna.

 

(14)   This stockholder has advised us that the person with voting or investment power over these shares is The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. No single individual has voting or investment power. Timothy Kingston, one of our directors, is an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co., an affiliate of this stockholder.

 

(15)   This stockholder has advised us that the person with voting or investment power over these shares is Meyer Malka.

 

(16)   This stockholder has advised us that the person with voting or investment power over these shares is Gerardo Rosenkranz, who is also one of our directors.

 

(17)   This stockholder has advised us that the persons with voting or investment power over these shares are George Rosenkranz, Roberto Rosenkranz and Ricardo Rosenkranz.

Except as set forth above, the selling stockholders do not have, and have not had since our inception, any position, office or other material relationship with us or any of our predecessors or affiliates. The selling stockholders identified above may have sold, transferred or otherwise disposed of all or a portion of their securities since the date on which they provided the information regarding their securities, in transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act.

The selling stockholders have agreed, with limited exceptions, for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus, that they will not, without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated directly or indirectly, offer to sell, sell or otherwise dispose of any shares of our common stock or any securities convertible into, or exercisable or exchangeable for, shares of our common stock or our other capital stock, other than the shares of common stock sold by the selling stockholders in this offering. See “Underwriting.”

Any selling stockholder that is identified as a broker-dealer will be deemed to be an “underwriter” within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Securities Act, unless such selling stockholder obtained the stock as compensation for services. In addition, any affiliate of a broker-dealer will be deemed to be an “underwriter” within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Securities Act, unless such selling stockholder purchased in the ordinary course of business and, at the time of its purchase of the stock to be resold, did not have any agreements or understandings, directly or indirectly, with any person to distribute the stock. As a result, any profits on the sale of the common stock by selling stockholders who are deemed to be “underwriters” and any discounts, commissions or concessions received by any such broker-dealers who are deemed to be “underwriters” will be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act. Selling stockholders who are deemed to be “underwriters” will be subject to prospectus delivery requirements of the Securities Act and to certain statutory liabilities, including, but not limited to, those under Sections 11, 12 and 17 of the Securities Act and Rule 10b-5 under the Exchange Act. Each of the selling stockholders that is an affiliate of a broker-dealer has advised us that (i) they purchased the common stock to be offered by them pursuant to this prospectus in the ordinary course of its business and (ii) that, at the time of the purchase of the common stock, they did not have any agreement or understanding, directly or indirectly, with any person, or any intent, to distribute the common stock.

 

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Certain relationships and related transactions

Stockholders agreement

On September 24, 2001, in connection with their purchase of shares of our capital stock, we entered into a stockholders agreement with eBay Inc., or eBay, J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA) L.P., The Flatiron Fund 1998/99 LLC, Flatiron Associates LLC, The Flatiron Fund 2000 LLC, Luna Ventures LLC, Ventech LLC, GGG Partners, Seven-X International Limited, HMTF-LA (MercadoLibre) Investments, LLC, Geoffroy de Belloy de Saint Lienard, GS Capital Partners III, L.P., GS Capital Partners III Offshore, L.P., Goldman Sachs & Co. Verwaltungs GmbH, Capital Riesgo Internet SCR S.A., GE Capital Equity Investments, Inc., Nedasur S.A., Dwight Siprelle, Mike Rankowitz, Michael Petrick, Anthony Melchiorre, Mete Tuncel, Jason Maratos, and Andrew Brenner.

The stockholders agreement also provided that eBay, Capital Riesgo Internet SCR S.A., GE Capital Equity Investments, Inc., HMTF-LA (MercadoLibre) Investments, LLC and J.P. Morgan Partners BHCA L.P., each have the right to have one non-voting observer present at all meetings of our board of directors and all committees thereof. The stockholders agreement gives The Goldman Sachs Group the right to appoint a director to our board of directors. Mr. Kingston was appointed to our board by The Goldman Sachs Group. Except for eBay, this right was subject to maintenance of certain minimum ownership requirements.

All of the stockholders party to the stockholders agreement agreed to be bound by the terms of the Second Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement, dated September 24, 2001, with respect to the registration of their shares of common stock in connection with an initial public offering. See “Description of capital stock—Registration rights.”

The stockholders agreement will terminate upon completion of this offering, and none of its provisions will survive termination.

Relationships with our directors

Several of our directors are affiliated with five percent stockholders of our company. Mr. Clutterbuck is a Principal of HM Capital Partners LLC, an affiliate of HMTF-LA (MercadoLibre) Investments, LLC, which owns 6.1% of our common stock. Mr. Kingston is an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co., an affiliate of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is the beneficial owner of 5.4% of our common stock. Mr. Delgado is a Principal of CCMP Capital Partners LLC, a former affiliate of J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA), L.P., which owns 14.9% of our common stock. J.P. Morgan Partners, LLC is an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., a joint book-runner of this offering. Messrs. Kingston and Delgado intend to resign as directors of our company upon completion of this offering.

Loan and security agreement

On January 17, 2006, we entered into a Loan and Security Agreement with Mr. Ignacio Vidaguren, a Vice President. The agreement provides that Mr. Vidaguren may request advances from us in the aggregate amount of $214,503 at an annual interest rate of 5%. The agreement calls for interest-only payments on January 17 of each year until the maturity date. Since entering into the agreement, we have made one disbursement of $14,503 on January 17, 2006 under the terms of the agreement. The maturity date will be the earlier of (i) January 17, 2011 or (ii) three

 

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days after Mr. Vidaguren receives proceeds from the sale of his securities in our company or the day that Mr. Vidaguren receives proceeds pursuant to sales of securities in connection with our initial public offering. The loan is secured by collateral consisting of Mr. Vidaguren’s property, whether presently existing or subsequently acquired, related to equity interests issued by us and our subsidiaries and any rights or distributions of any kind arising from those equity interests. The value of the collateral exceeds the maximum amount that may be drawn under the loan. Events of default include (a) non-payment, (b) violation of covenants such as any kind of transfer of the equity interests, and creation of encumbrances of any kind on the equity interests, and (c) falsity of the representations and warranties of the agreement. At March 31, 2007, the outstanding amount on the loan, including principal and interest, was $9,228.

Office lease

We lease office space from Curtidos San Luis S.A. The managers and stockholders of the controlling company of Curtidos San Luis S.A. are immediate family members of our director, president and chief executive officer, Marcos Galperín. We paid rent to Curtidos San Luis S.A. in the amount of $0.1 million in the first quarter of 2007, $0.3 million in 2006, $0.2 million in 2005 and $0.1 million in 2004.

Indemnification agreements

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of the directors and officers of our local subsidiaries. These agreements require us to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted by the laws of the countries where our local subsidiaries operate, for certain liabilities to which they may become subject due to their position as directors or officers in our subsidiaries.

Relationship with eBay

Strategic alliance with eBay .    In September of 2001, we entered into a strategic alliance with eBay, which became one of our stockholders and started working with us to better serve the Latin American online trading community. As part of this strategic alliance, we acquired eBay’s Brazilian subsidiary at the time, iBazar, and eBay agreed not to compete with us in the region during the term of the agreement. This agreement also provided us with access to certain know-how and experience, which accelerated aspects of our development. The agreement governing our strategic alliance with eBay expired on September 24, 2006. Even though eBay is one of our stockholders, with the termination of this agreement, there are no contractual restrictions upon eBay becoming one of our competitors.

Acquisition of DeRemate with a loan from eBay .    On November 10, 2005, we acquired a substantial portion of the business of DeRemate.com, Inc., a Delaware corporation, or DeRemate, including the majority of shares of DeRemate’s subsidiaries (except for its Argentinean and Chilean subsidiaries) and certain assets of DeRemate, for an aggregate purchase price of $12.1 million, net of cash and cash equivalents acquired. DeRemate operates an online trading community in Latin America similar to ours, and until the acquisition it was our main competitor. We financed the acquisition, net of cash and cash equivalents acquired, with a loan from eBay, one of our stockholders, in the amount of $12.0 million, secured by our assets, including equity interests in our subsidiaries and those we have acquired in DeRemate. The loan bears an interest rate of 7% per year. We must make interest payments only on November 10 of each year. The

 

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principal balance is due on November 10, 2010, or upon an issuance of securities, such as this initial public offering, whichever happens earlier. At March 31, 2007, approximately $9.3 million remained outstanding on the loan. The agreement governing the loan imposes restrictions on our ability to declare dividends on our capital stock in an event of default. We expect to repay all outstanding amounts under this loan with a portion of the net proceeds of this offering and terminate the loan agreement.

Review, approval or ratification of transactions with related parties

Our policy with regards to transactions with any of our officers, directors and principal security holders and their affiliates, as well as any transactions between us and any entity with which our officers, directors or principal security holders are affiliates, is to communicate such transactions to our board of directors for review, and if necessary, obtain formal board approval and/or ratification, and in accordance with applicable law governing the approval of such transactions. This policy is currently not evidenced in writing, and instead is followed in practice. Upon completion of this offering, however, our audit committee will adopt policies and procedures for review of, or standards for approval of, these transactions.

 

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Description of capital stock

The following summary of the material terms of our capital stock is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to Delaware law, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, each of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. See “Where you can find more information.”

General matters

Prior to the completion of this offering, our authorized capital stock consists of 154,400,000 shares, including: (i) 108,800,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, including 65,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, 6,400,000 shares of Class B-1 common stock, 6,400,000 shares of Class B-2 common stock, 8,600,000 shares of Class C common stock, 3,000,000 shares of Class D-1 common stock, 3,000,000 shares of Class D-2 common stock, 8,200,000 shares of Class E-1 common stock and 8,200,000 shares of Class E-2 common stock and (ii) 45,600,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.01 par value per share, including 1,800,000 shares of Series A preferred stock, 6,400,00 shares of Series B-1 preferred stock, 6,400,000 shares of Series B-2 preferred stock, 8,600,000 shares of Series C preferred stock, 3,000,000 shares of Series D-1 preferred stock, 3,000,000 shares of Series D-2 preferred stock, 8,200,000 shares of Series E-1 preferred stock and 8,200,000 shares of Series E-2 preferred stock. As of December 31, 2006, there were 13,166,982 shares of Class A common stock, no shares of Class B-1 common stock, no shares of Class B-2 common stock, no shares of Class C common stock, no shares of Class D-1 common stock, no shares of Class D-2 common stock, no shares of Class E-1 common stock, no shares of Class E-2 common stock, 1,600,000 shares of Series A preferred stock, 1,853,275 shares of Series B-1 preferred stock, 4,146,725 shares of Series B-2 preferred stock, 8,513,408 shares of Series C preferred stock, 441,687 shares of Series D-1 preferred stock, 2,506,681 shares of Series D-2 preferred stock, 6,983,878 shares of Series E-1 preferred stock and 1,142,184 shares of Series E-2 preferred stock issued and outstanding. At March 31, 2007, there were 69 holders of record of our Class A common stock, three holders of Series A preferred stock, eight holders of Series B-1 preferred stock, two holders of Series B-2 preferred stock, 15 holders of Series C preferred stock, eight holders of Series D-1 preferred stock, two holders of Series D-2 preferred stock, one holder of Series E-1 preferred stock and one holder of Series E-2 preferred stock. Upon the closing of this offering, there will be              holders of record of our common stock. We have received notices of election to exercise, upon completion of this offering, warrants to purchase 184,272 shares of Series C and D preferred stock for a total consideration of $750,000.

Upon completion of this offering, we will amend and restate our certificate of incorporation to provide that our authorized capital stock will consist of (1) 110,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $.001 per share, and (2) 40,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $.001 per share. Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, all currently outstanding shares of our Class A common stock, Series A preferred stock, Class B-1 common stock, Series B-1 preferred stock, Class B-2 common stock, Series B-2 preferred stock, Class C common stock, Series C preferred stock, Class D-1 common stock, Series D-1 preferred stock, Class D-2 common stock, Series D-2 preferred stock, Class E-1 common stock, Series E-1 preferred stock, Class E-2 common stock, and Series E-2 preferred stock will be converted into shares of a single class of our common stock. Pursuant to the terms of our certificate of incorporation in effect prior to completion of this offering, a public offering such as this one will trigger the automatic conversion of each series of preferred stock into its corresponding class of common stock. Stockholders have elected to convert those shares of common stock into a single class of

 

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our common stock upon completion of this offering. Immediately following the completion of this offering, we expect to have 43,835,263 shares of common stock (or 44,226,567 if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase 391,304 additional shares to cover any over-allotment), and no shares of preferred stock outstanding.

All of our existing stock is, and the shares of common stock being offered by us in this offering will be, upon payment therefor, validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. This discussion set forth below describes the most important terms of our capital stock, amended and restated certificate of incorporation and by-laws as will be in effect upon completion of this offering. Because it is only a summary, it does not contain all the information that may be important to you. For a complete description you should refer to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and by-laws, copies of which have been filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which the prospectus is a part, and to the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation law.

Common stock

Set forth below is a brief discussion of the principal terms of our common stock.

Dividend rights

Holders of our common stock are entitled to receive ratably dividends, if as and when dividends are declared from time to time by our board of directors out of funds legally available for that purpose. The terms of the loan agreement with eBay imposes restrictions on our ability to declare dividends on our capital stock in an event of default. This agreement will terminate upon payment in full of the outstanding principal amount of the loan and accrued interest, which we expect to pay with a portion of the proceeds of this offering. See “Certain relationships and related transactions—Relationship with eBay” for more information. We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

Voting rights

Each outstanding share of our common stock will be entitled to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of holders of our common stock, except for stockholders that beneficially own more than 20% of the shares of our outstanding common stock, in which case our board of directors may declare that any shares of stock above such 20% do not have voting rights. The holders of common stock do not have cumulative voting rights in the election of directors.

Preemptive or similar rights

Our common stock will not be entitled to preemptive or other similar subscription rights to purchase any of our securities.

Right to receive liquidation distributions

Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of our common stock will be entitled to receive pro rata our assets which are legally available for distribution, after payment of all debts and other liabilities and subject to the prior rights of any holders of preferred stock then outstanding.

 

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Conversion rights

Our common stock has no conversion rights.

Nasdaq listing

We have applied for listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “MELI.”

Preferred stock

Our board of directors may, without further action by our stockholders, from time to time, direct the issuance of shares of preferred stock in series and may, at the time of issuance, determine the rights, preferences and limitations of each series. Satisfaction of any dividend preferences of outstanding shares of preferred stock would reduce the amount of funds available for the payment of dividends on shares of common stock. Holders of shares of preferred stock may be entitled to receive a preference payment in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding-up before any payment is made to the holders of shares of common stock. Under specified circumstances, the issuance of shares of preferred stock may render more difficult or tend to discourage a merger, tender offer or proxy contest, the assumption of control by a holder of a large block of our securities or the removal of incumbent management. Upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the total number of directors then in office, the board of directors, without stockholder approval, may issue shares of preferred stock with voting and conversion rights which could adversely affect the holders of shares of common stock. Upon consummation of the offering, there will be no shares of preferred stock outstanding, and we have no present intention to issue any shares of preferred stock.

Registration rights

In connection with the stockholders’ agreement described under “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions,” we entered into a registration rights agreement with the holders of common stock issued by us. Pursuant to the registration rights agreement, we have included in the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, 11,288,074 shares of common stock proposed to be offered by certain selling stockholders who purchased from us shares of our capital stock in private placements.

Beginning 90 days after the date of completion of this offering, subject to any lock-up restrictions, certain of our stockholders will have the right to request that we register with the SEC shares of our common stock having a gross offering price of at least $2,000,000. Beginning on the first anniversary of the closing date of this offering, another group of our stockholders will have the right to request that we register with the SEC additional shares of our common stock having a gross offering price of at least $2,000,000.

Pursuant to the registration rights agreement we also have the right to restrict sales of our common stock by these stockholders, other than permissible sales or transfers pursuant to Rule 144 under the Securities Act, for a period beginning ten days prior and 180 days after the date of this prospectus, except for sales of our common stock made in connection with the registration procedures described in the prior paragraph. We expect to subject these stockholders to that restriction.

Anti-takeover effects of the Delaware general corporation law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws will contain certain provisions that are intended to enhance the likelihood of continuity and stability in the composition of the board of directors

 

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and which may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a future takeover or change in control of the company unless such takeover or change in control is approved by the board of directors, including:

Advance notice procedures

Our bylaws will establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of our stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to the board of directors. Stockholders at an annual meeting will only be able to consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of the board of directors or by a stockholder who was a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has given our Secretary timely written notice, in proper form, of the stockholder’s intention to bring that business before the meeting. Although the bylaws will not give the board of directors the power to approve or disapprove stockholder nominations of candidates or proposals regarding other business to be conducted at a special or annual meeting, the bylaws may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the proper procedures are not followed or may discourage or defer a potential acquiror from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect its own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the company.

No cumulative voting

The General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, or DGCL, provides that stockholders are not entitled to the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors unless our certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our certificate of incorporation expressly provides that no stockholder shall be entitled to cumulate votes in the election of directors.

Stockholder action by written consent

The DGCL permits stockholder action by written consent unless otherwise provided by our certificate of incorporation. Our certificate of incorporation precludes stockholder action by written consent.

Business combinations under Delaware law

We will be subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL regulating corporate takeovers. In general, Section 203 prohibits a publicly-traded Delaware corporation from engaging under certain circumstances, in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date the person became an interested stockholder unless certain conditions are met.

Authorized but unissued shares

Our authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock will be available for future issuance without stockholder approval. These additional shares may be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital, corporate acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of a majority of our common stock by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

 

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Ability to adopt a stockholder rights plan

Our certificate of incorporation provides our board of directors the authority to adopt a stockholder rights plan, which, if adopted, could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of a majority of our common stock by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Classified board of directors

Our board of directors will be classified in three classes, with each class elected every year for a term of three years. This would delay the ability of a majority stockholder to gain majority representation in our board of directors.

Removal of directors

Our stockholders will not be able to remove directors other than for cause, which consists of a declaration of unsound mind by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, conviction of a felony or of an offense punishable by imprisonment for a term of more than one year by a court of competent jurisdiction, or declaration of liability by a court of competent jurisdiction for gross negligence or willful misconduct in the performance of such director’s fiduciary duties. If cause exists, a vote of two-thirds of our stockholders will be required for such director’s removal.

Amendment to our certificate of incorporation and bylaws

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that anti-takeover provisions can only be amended or repealed with a vote of two-thirds of our stockholders. This would render any majority stockholder that does not have a two-thirds majority to amend any takeover protections in our certificate of incorporation or bylaws and therefore preclude such stockholder from exercising control over our management.

Voting limitations

Each outstanding share of our common stock will be entitled to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of holders of our common stock, except for stockholders that beneficially own more than 20% of the shares of our outstanding common stock, in which case our board of directors may declare that any shares of stock above such 20% do not have voting rights. The holders of common stock do not have cumulative voting rights in the election of directors.

Transfer agent and registrar

The Bank of New York will be appointed as the transfer agent and registrar for our common stock upon completion of this offering.

 

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Shares eligible for future sale

Prior to this offering, there has been no market for our common stock, and we cannot assure you that a significant public market for our common stock will develop or be sustained after this offering. Future sales of substantial amounts of common stock (including shares issued upon exercise of outstanding options) in the public market after this offering could adversely affect market prices prevailing from time to time and could impair our ability to raise capital through sales of our equity securities. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market after the restrictions lapse could adversely affect the prevailing market price and our ability to raise equity capital in the future.

Upon completion of this offering, we will have outstanding an aggregate of approximately              shares of our common stock, assuming no exercise of outstanding options. In addition, we have an aggregate of approximately 300,000 shares of common stock reserved under our Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan. The shares of common stock sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, unless held by our “affiliates” as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act. As defined in Rule 144, an “affiliate” of an issuer is a person that directly, indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by or is under common control with the issuer, and may include directors and officers of the issuer as well as significant stockholders. The shares of common stock not sold in this offering are restricted securities as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act. Restricted securities may be sold in the public market only if registered under the securities laws or if they qualify for an exemption from registration under Rule 144, as described below.

Rule 144

In general, under Rule 144 as currently in effect, a person (or persons whose shares are aggregated) who has beneficially owned restricted securities for at least one year (including the holding period of any prior owner except an affiliate) would be entitled to sell on the open market in brokers’ transactions within any three-month period beginning 90 days after the date of this prospectus, a number of shares that does not exceed the greater of:

 

 

1% of the number of shares of common stock then outstanding (which will equal approximately 438,352 shares upon completion this offering); or

 

 

the average weekly trading volume of the common stock on the open market during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a Form 144 with respect to such sale.

Sales under Rule 144 are also subject to certain manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.

Our affiliates must comply with all the provisions of Rule 144 (other than the one-year holding period requirement) in order to sell shares of our common stock that are not restricted securities (such as shares acquired by our affiliates either in this offering or through purchases in the open market following this offering.)

We expect that a substantial amount of our common stock may be eligible for resale under Rule 144 and Rule 144(k) described below upon completion of this offering.

 

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Rule 144(k)

Under paragraph (k) of Rule 144, a person who is not our affiliate at any time during the three months preceding a sale, and who has beneficially owned the shares proposed to be sold for at least two years, is entitled to sell such shares without complying with the manner-of-sale, public information, volume limitation or notice provisions of Rule 144. The two-year holding period includes the holding period of any prior owner who is not our affiliate. Therefore, unless otherwise restricted, shares covered by Rule 144(k) may be sold immediately upon the closing of this offering.

Rule 701

In general, under Rule 701, any of our employees, directors, officers, consultants or advisors who received or purchased shares of common stock from us in connection with a compensatory stock or option plan or other written agreement before the effective date of this offering, or who purchased shares of common stock from us after that date upon the exercise of options granted before that date, are eligible to resell such shares in reliance upon Rule 144 90 days after we become subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. If such person is not an affiliate, such sale may be made subject only to the manner-of-sale provisions of Rule 144. If such a person is an affiliate, such sale may be made under Rule 144 without compliance with its one-year minimum holding period, but subject to the other Rule 144 restrictions.

We have remaining approximately 300,000 shares available for issuance pursuant to our Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan.

Registration rights agreement

Beginning 90 days after the date of completion of this offering, subject to any lock-up restrictions, certain of our stockholders will have the right to request that we register with the SEC shares of our common stock having a gross offering price of at least $2,000,000. Beginning on the first anniversary of the closing date of this offering, another group of our stockholders will have the right to request that we register with the SEC additional shares of our common stock having a gross offering price of at least $2,000,000.

Lock up agreements

The selling stockholders, our directors and executive officers, and certain other existing stockholders are subject to lock-up agreements generally providing that, with certain limited exceptions, they may not, for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus, directly or indirectly sell, dispose of or hedge any shares of common stock or any securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of common stock without the prior written consent of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated on behalf of the underwriters. As a result of these lock-up agreements, notwithstanding possible earlier eligibility for sale under the provisions of Rules 144, 144(k) and 701, none of these shares will be saleable until 180 days after the date of the final prospectus. The underwriters may waive any lock-up agreement at their discretion at any time.

Each of General Atlantic and Tiger has agreed that, in the event it purchases any shares in this offering, it will not, without our prior written consent, transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any of its shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for our shares, for a period of 18 months.

 

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Certain United States tax consequences

to non-U.S. holders

The following is a summary of the material U.S. federal income and estate tax considerations that may be relevant to a “Non-U.S. Holder” (as defined below) of our common stock.

A “Non-U.S. Holder” is a beneficial owner of our common stock (other than a partnership) that is not, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, (i) an individual citizen or resident of the United States; (ii) a corporation, or other entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, that is created or organized in or under the laws of the United States, the District of Columbia or any state in the United States; (iii) an estate, if U.S. federal income taxation is applicable to the income of that estate regardless of the income’s source; or (iv) a trust, if a U.S. court is able to exercise primary supervision over the trust’s administration and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all of the trust’s substantial decisions (or if a valid election is in effect to treat the trust as a U.S. person under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations).

This summary is based on current law, which may change, possibly with retroactive effect. This summary addresses only Non-U.S. Holders that will hold their common stock as a capital asset ( i.e. , generally, for investment) and does not address any state, local or non-U.S. tax laws. This summary does not address tax considerations applicable to Non-U.S. Holders to whom special tax rules may apply, including:

 

 

banks;

 

 

U.S. expatriates;

 

 

tax-exempt entities;

 

 

insurance companies;

 

 

common trust funds;

 

 

dealers in securities or currencies;

 

 

entities that are treated as partnerships (or other pass-through entities) for U.S. federal income tax purposes; or

 

 

persons that will hold our common stock as part of an integrated investment, including a straddle or conversion transaction, comprised of our common stock and one or more other positions.

If a partnership holds our common stock, the tax treatment of a partner will generally depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. If you are a partner of a partnership holding our common stock, you should consult your tax advisor.

You should consult your tax advisor in determining the tax consequences to you of purchasing, owning and disposing of our common stock, including the application to your particular situation of the U.S. federal income and estate tax considerations discussed below, as well as the application of state, local, foreign or other tax laws.

Dividends

Distributions on our common stock will constitute dividends to the extent paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

 

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Dividends, if any, paid by to you generally are subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, subject to reduction or elimination if you are eligible for the benefits of an applicable income tax treaty. Generally, to claim the benefits of an income tax treaty, you will be required to provide a properly executed IRS Form W-8BEN and satisfy applicable certification and other requirements. Any effectively connected dividends described below are generally not subject to the 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, provided certain certification and disclosure requirements are satisfied.

A percentage of any such dividend generally will not be subject to the 30% U.S. federal withholding tax if at least 80% of our gross income from all sources during the three-year period ending with the close of our taxable year preceding the dividend payment date is “active foreign business income.” Generally, “active foreign business income” is gross income derived by us from sources outside the United States (or attributable to income so derived by certain of our subsidiaries) that is attributable to the active conduct of a trade or business in a foreign country or possession of the United States by us (or certain of our subsidiaries). If the 80% requirement is met, the 30% U.S. federal withholding tax will not apply to a percentage of the dividend equal to the percentage that our gross income from sources outside the United States for such three-year period is of our total gross income for such three-year period. We currently expect to meet the 80% requirement, and, therefore, we anticipate that the 30% U.S. federal withholding tax will not apply to a portion of our dividends. No assurance can be given, however, that we will meet the 80% requirement or that any portion of dividends will not be subject to the 30% U.S. federal withholding tax.

Dividends that are effectively connected with your conduct of a trade or business within the United States and, where a tax treaty applies, are attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base maintained by you in the United States, will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at regular graduated rates and, if you are a corporation, you may be subject to an additional, branch profits tax at a 30% rate or a lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty. The branch profits tax is generally imposed on a foreign corporation on the repatriation from the United States of effectively connected earnings and profits. Any effectively connected dividends described above are generally not subject to the 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, provided certain certification and disclosure requirements are satisfied.

You should consult any applicable tax treaties which may provide for a lower rate of withholding or other rules different than those described above. You will not be entitled to a reduction in or an exemption from U.S. federal withholding tax if the payor or agent knows or has reason to know that you are not entitled to a reduction or exemption. If you are eligible for a reduced rate of withholding tax pursuant to a tax treaty, you may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld by filing an appropriate claim for refund with the Internal Revenue Service.

Sale or other disposition of common stock

You generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any gain recognized on the sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of our common stock unless:

 

 

you are an individual present in the United States for 183 days or more in the year of that sale or other disposition and certain other requirements are met;

 

 

the gain is “U.S. trade or business income,” which means gain that is effectively connected with your conduct of a trade or business within the United States and, where a tax treaty applies, is attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment or a fixed base; or

 

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we are or have been, at any time within the shorter of the five-year period preceding such disposition or your holding period for our common stock, a “United States real property holding corporation” within the meaning of Section 897(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, unless our common stock is regularly traded on an established securities market and you held no more than 5% of our outstanding common stock, directly or indirectly, at all times within the shorter of the five-year period preceding such disposition or your holding period for our common stock.

We believe that we are not currently, and do not expect to become, a United States real property holding corporation.

An individual described in the first bullet point above will be subject to a flat 30% U.S. federal income tax on the gain derived from the sale, which may be offset by U.S. source capital losses, even though he or she is not considered a resident of the United States. An individual described in the second or third bullet points above will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at regular graduated rates on the gain derived from the sale. A foreign corporation described in the second or third bullet points above will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at regular graduated rates on the gain derived from the sale and, if described in the second bullet point, may be subject to the additional branch profits tax described above on such gain.

Federal estate taxes

If you are an individual and are treated as the owner of, or have made certain lifetime transfers of, an interest in our common stock, you will be required to include the value of that interest in your gross estate for U.S. federal estate tax purposes and might be subject to U.S. federal estate tax unless an applicable estate tax treaty provides otherwise.

Backup withholding and information reporting

We must report annually to you and the Internal Revenue Service the amount of dividends paid to you (and any tax withheld from those dividends) even if no withholding was required. Under the provisions of an applicable income tax treaty, copies of the information returns reporting dividends and withholding might also be made available to the tax authorities in the country in which you reside.

You will be subject to backup withholding on dividends paid to you unless applicable certification requirements are met. The backup withholding rate is currently 28%. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules will be allowable as a refund or credit against your U.S. federal income tax liability (if any), provided the required information is furnished to the Internal Revenue Service.

In general, backup withholding will not apply to dividends on our common stock paid by us or our paying agents, in their capacities as such, to you, or to proceeds from the disposition of common stock paid to you, in each case if you have provided the required certification that you are a Non-U.S. Holder and neither the payor nor its paying agent (if any) has actual knowledge or reason to know to the contrary.

The description set forth above is included for general information only and may not be applicable depending upon your particular situation. You should consult your tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our common stock, including the tax consequences under state, local, foreign and other tax laws and the possible effects of changes in U.S. federal or other tax laws.

 

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Underwriting

We and the selling stockholders are offering the shares of common stock described in this prospectus through a number of underwriters. J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated are acting as the representatives of the underwriters and as joint bookrunners for this offering. We and the selling stockholders have entered into an underwriting agreement with the underwriters. Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement, we and the selling stockholders have agreed to sell to the underwriters, and each underwriter has agreed to purchase, at the public offering price less the underwriting discount set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, the number of shares of our common stock listed next to its name in the following table.

 

Name    Number of shares

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.

  

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated

  

RBC Capital Markets Corporation

  

Pacific Crest Securities Inc.

  
    

Total

   16,077,185

The underwriters are committed to purchase all the common stock offered by us and the selling stockholders if they purchase any shares of common stock. The underwriting agreement also provides that if an underwriter defaults, the purchase commitments of non-defaulting underwriters may also be increased or the offering may be terminated. The underwriting agreement also provides that the obligations of the underwriters are subject to certain conditions precedent, including the absence of any material adverse change in our business and the receipt of certain certificates, opinions and letters from us, our counsel and our independent auditors.

The underwriters propose to offer the shares of common stock directly to the public at the initial public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus and to certain dealers at that price less a concession not in excess of $             per share. Any such dealers may resell shares to certain other brokers or dealers at a discount of up to $             per share from the initial public offering price. After the initial public offering of the shares of common stock, the underwriters may change the offering price and other selling terms. Sales of shares made outside of the United States may be made by affiliates of the underwriters. The representatives have advised us that the underwriters do not intend to confirm discretionary sales in excess of 5% of the common stock offered in the offering.

The underwriters have an option to buy up to 391,304 additional shares of common stock from us and 2,020,273 additional shares of common stock from the selling stockholders to cover sales of shares by the underwriters which exceed the number of shares specified in the table above. The underwriters have 30 days from the date of this prospectus to exercise this over-allotment option. If any additional shares of common stock are purchased, the underwriters will offer the additional shares on the same terms as those on which the shares are being offered.

 

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The underwriting fee is equal to the public offering price per share of common stock less the amount paid by the underwriters to us and the selling stockholders per share of common stock. The underwriting fee is $             per share. The following table shows the per share and total underwriting discount to be paid to the underwriters by us and the selling stockholders assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares:

Underwriting discount:

 

       Paid by us    Paid by the selling stockholders
     Without over-
allotment exercise
   With full over-
allotment exercise
   Without over-
allotment exercise
   With full over-
allotment exercise
                             

Per share

   $                 $                 $                 $             

Total

   $                 $                 $                 $             

We estimate that the total expenses of this offering, including registration, filing and listing fees, printing fees and legal and accounting expenses, but excluding the underwriting discount, will be approximately $2.0 million, which includes expenses of $540,000 incurred by the underwriters that we have agreed to reimburse.

At pricing, we and the selling stockholders will consider, at our discretion agreeing to pay J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated for their services as joint book-runners of this offering an incentive fee equal to up to 1% of the gross proceeds to us and to the selling stockholders from the sale of shares in this offering.

A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the websites maintained by one or more underwriters, or selling group members, if any, participating in the offering. The underwriters may agree to allocate a number of shares to selling group members for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the representatives to underwriters and selling group members that may make Internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations. In addition, the underwriters may sell shares to securities dealers who resell shares to online brokerage account holders. The information on any such website is not part of this prospectus.

We, the selling stockholders, our directors and executive officers, and certain other stockholders have agreed with the underwriters prior to the commencement of this offering that we and each of these persons or entities, with limited exceptions, for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus, may not, without the prior written consent of the representatives of the underwriters, among other things:

(1) offer, pledge, announce the intention to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of our common stock (including, without limitation, common stock which may be deemed to be beneficially owned by such directors, executive officers, managers and members in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC and securities which may be issued upon exercise of a stock option or warrant), or

(2) enter into any swap or other agreement that transfers, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of our common stock,

 

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whether any such transaction described in bullet points (1) or (2) above is to be settled by delivery of common stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise. The 180-day restricted period described above will be extended if during the last 17 days of the 180-day restricted period we issue an earnings release or material news or a material event relating to us occurs; or prior to the expiration of the 180-day restricted period, we announce that we will release earnings results during the 16-day period beginning on the last day of the 180-day period; in which case the restrictions described above will continue to apply until the expiration of the 18-day period beginning on the issuance of the earnings release or the occurrence of the material news or material event, as applicable, unless the representatives of the underwriters waive, in writing, such extension.

We may issue shares of common stock or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock for the benefit of our employees, directors and officers under our Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan described in this prospectus, provided that recipients are subject to the lock-up as described above.

The representatives have no current intent or arrangement to release any of the shares subject to the lock-up agreements prior to the expiration of the 180-day lock-up period. There is no contractually specified condition for the waiver of lock-up restrictions, and any waiver is at the discretion of the representatives.

There are no specific criteria for the waiver of lock-up restrictions, and the representatives cannot in advance determine the circumstances under which a waiver might be granted. Any waiver will depend on the facts and circumstances existing at the time. Among the factors that the representatives may consider in deciding whether to release shares may include the length of time before the lock-up expires, the number of shares involved, the reason for the requested release, market conditions, the trading price of our common stock, historical trading volumes of our common stock and whether the person seeking the release is an officer, director or affiliate of our company. The representatives will not consider its own positions in our securities, if any, in determining whether to consent to a waiver of a lock-up agreement.

Investment entities affiliated with General Atlantic and investment entities affiliated with Tiger have each separately expressed interest in acquiring a significant amount of shares of our common stock in this offering. We have advised the representatives of the underwriters to consider a significant allocation of shares in this offering to these investors. The representatives of the underwriters do not currently anticipate that any allocation of shares to these investors will exceed an aggregate of 10,000,000 shares of the common stock being offered by this prospectus. Any purchase by General Atlantic or Tiger would be part of this offering and, consequently, would be made at the initial public offering price. There is no agreement for purchase or sale of these shares, and we do not know if General Atlantic or Tiger will place an order to purchase or purchase all or any portion of these shares. However, the number of shares available for sale to the general public will be reduced to the extent that General Atlantic or Tiger purchases any shares offered by this prospectus. As of the date of this prospectus, Tiger is the beneficial owner of 1,700,000 shares of our common stock. If General Atlantic and Tiger purchase shares in this offering, we anticipate that, upon completion of this offering, General Atlantic and Tiger could each hold shares representing more than 10% of our common stock.

Each of General Atlantic and Tiger has agreed that, in the event it purchases any shares in this offering, it will not, without our prior written consent, transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any of its shares of our common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for our shares, for a period of 18 months.

 

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If General Atlantic purchases a significant amount of shares of common stock in this offering, it has expressed an interest in submitting to our nominating and corporate governance committee a director nominee to be considered for appointment by our board of directors after completion of this offering.

We and the selling stockholders have each agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.

We have applied to list our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “MELI.”

In connection with the offering, the underwriters may engage in stabilizing transactions, which involves making bids for, purchasing and selling shares of common stock in the open market for the purpose of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock while the offering is in progress. These stabilizing transactions may include making short sales of the common stock, which involves the sale by the underwriters of a greater number of shares of common stock than it is required to purchase in the offering, and purchasing shares of common stock on the open market to cover positions created by short sales. Short sales may be “covered” shorts, which are short positions in an amount not greater than the underwriters’ over-allotment option referred to above, or may be “naked” shorts, which are short positions in excess of that amount. The underwriters may close out any covered short position either by exercising their over-allotment option, in whole or in part, or by purchasing shares in the open market. In making this determination, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market compared to the price at which the underwriters may purchase shares through the over-allotment option. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the common stock in the open market that could adversely affect investors who purchase in the offering. To the extent that the underwriters create a naked short position, they will purchase shares in the open market to cover the position.

In connection with the offering, underwriters and selling group members may engage in passive market making transactions in the common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market in accordance with Rule 103 of Regulation M under the Exchange Act. A passive market maker must display its bids at a price not in excess of the highest independent bid of the security. However, if all independent bids are lowered below the passive market maker’s bid, that bid must be lowered when specified purchase limits are exceeded.

The underwriters have advised us that, pursuant to Regulation M under the Exchange Act, they may also engage in other activities that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the common stock, including the imposition of penalty bids. This means that if the representatives of the underwriters purchase common stock in the open market in stabilizing transactions or to cover short sales, the representatives can require the underwriters that sold those shares as part of the offering to repay the underwriting discount received by them.

These activities may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of the common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock, and, as a result, the price of the common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. If the underwriters commence these activities, it may discontinue them at any time. The underwriters may carry out these transactions on the Nasdaq Global Market, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.

 

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Prior to the offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. The initial public offering price will be determined by negotiations between us and the representatives of the underwriters. In determining the initial public offering price of the common stock, we and the representatives of the underwriters considered a number of factors including:

 

 

the information set forth in this prospectus and otherwise available to the representatives of the underwriters;

 

 

our prospects and the history and prospects for the industry in which we compete;

 

 

an assessment of our management;

 

 

our prospects for future earnings;

 

 

the general condition of the securities markets, and the initial public offering market in particular, at the time of the offering;

 

 

the recent market prices of, and demand for, publicly traded common stock of generally comparable companies; and

 

 

other factors deemed relevant by the underwriters, the selling stockholders and us.

Neither we, nor the selling stockholders, nor the underwriters can assure investors that an active trading market will develop for our common stock, or that the shares will trade in the public market at or above the initial public offering price.

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a “Relevant Member State”), with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that Relevant Member State (the “Relevant Implementation Date”), no offer of shares of our common stock to the public in that Relevant Member State may be made prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to our common shares which has been approved by the competent authority in that Relevant Member State or, where appropriate, approved in another Relevant Member State and notified to the competent authority in that Relevant Member State, all in accordance with the Prospectus Directive, except that, with effect from and including the Relevant Implementation Date, an offer of our common shares may be made to the public in that Relevant Member State at any time:

 

 

to legal entities which are authorized or regulated to operate in the financial markets or, if not so authorized or regulated, whose corporate purpose is solely to invest in securities;

 

 

to any legal entity which has two or more of (1) an average of at least 250 employees during the last financial year; (2) a total balance sheet of more than 43,000,000 and (3) an annual net turnover of more than 50,000,000, as shown in its last annual or consolidated accounts; or

 

 

in any other circumstances which do not require the publication by the issuer of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive.

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer of shares to the public” in relation to any common shares in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the common shares to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the common shares, as the same may

 

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be varied in that Relevant Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Relevant Member State, and the expression “Prospectus Directive” means Directive 2003/71/EC and includes any relevant implementing measure in each Relevant Member State.

This offering is being conducted in accordance with the applicable provisions of Rule 2720 of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. Conduct Rules because certain affiliates of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., one of the underwriters, own 10% or more of our outstanding capital stock. Rule 2720 requires that the initial public offering price of the shares of common stock not be higher than that recommended by a “qualified independent underwriter” meeting certain standards. Accordingly, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated is assuming the responsibilities of acting as the qualified independent underwriter in pricing this offering and conducting due diligence. The initial public offering price of the shares of common stock is no higher than the price recommended by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated. We have agreed to reimburse Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated as qualified independent underwriter against certain liabilities under the Securities Act.

The underwriters and their affiliates have provided in the past to us and our affiliates and may provide from time to time in the future certain commercial banking, financial advisory, investment banking and other services for us and such affiliates in the ordinary course of their business, for which they have received and may continue to receive customary fees and commissions. Alberto Delgado, a Principal of CCMP Capital Partners LLC, a former affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., served as a director of our company pursuant to the stockholders agreement described in “Certain relationships and related transactions.” J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. is an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA), L.P., which owns 14.9% of our common stock and is a selling stockholder in this offering.

In addition, from time to time, the underwriters and their affiliates may effect transactions for their own account or the account of customers, and hold on behalf of themselves or its customers, long or short positions in our debt or equity securities or loans, and may do so in the future.

Each of the underwriters has represented and agreed that:

 

 

it has only communicated or caused to be communicated and will only communicate or cause to be communicated an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activities (within the meaning of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended), or FSMA) to persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 or in circumstances in which section 21 of FSMA does not apply to the company; and

 

 

it has complied with, and will comply with all applicable provisions of FSMA with respect to anything done by it in relation to the shares in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom.

The shares of common stock may not be offered or sold by means of any document other than (i) in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap.32, Laws of Hong Kong), or (ii) to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap.571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (iii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap.32, Laws of Hong Kong), and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the shares may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or

 

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read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to shares of common stock which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder.

This prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the shares of common stock may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the shares of common stock be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”), (ii) to a relevant person, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.

Where the shares of common stock are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 by a relevant person which is: (a) a corporation (which is not an accredited investor) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or (b) a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary is an accredited investor, shares, debentures and units of shares and debentures of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest in that trust shall not be transferable for 6 months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the shares under Section 275 except: (1) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the SFA or to a relevant person, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions, specified in Section 275 of the SFA; (2) where no consideration is given for the transfer; or (3) by operation of law.

The shares of common stock have not been and will not be registered under the Securities and Exchange Law of Japan (the Securities and Exchange Law) and each underwriter has agreed that it will not offer or sell any shares of common stock, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to, or for the benefit of, any resident of Japan (which term as used herein means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to a resident of Japan, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Securities and Exchange Law and any other applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines of Japan.

 

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Legal matters

The validity of the issuance of the shares of common stock offered hereby will be passed upon for us by Hunton & Williams LLP. Certain legal matters in connection with this offering will be passed upon for the underwriters by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, New York, New York.

Experts

The financial statements at December 31, 2006 and 2005 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2006 included in this registration statement have been so included in reliance on the report of Price Waterhouse & Co. S.R.L., member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting. The combined statements of operations, changes in net investment and cash flows of DeRemate Operations for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005 included in this registration statement have been so included in reliance on the report of Price Waterhouse & Co. S.R.L., member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

Additional information

We have filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC under the Securities Act for the common stock we are offering pursuant to this prospectus. This prospectus is a part of the registration statement and does not contain all of the information in the registration statement. For additional information you should refer to the registration statement and its exhibits and schedules. No reference is hereby made to such omitted information. Whenever we refer in this prospectus to our contracts, agreements or other documents, the reference is not necessarily complete and you should refer to the exhibits attached to the registration statement for copies of the actual contract, agreement or other document. When we complete the offering, we will be required to file annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You can read our SEC filings, including the registration statement, over the Internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov . You may also read and copy any document we file with the SEC at its public reference room at 100 F. Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You may obtain copies of these documents upon the payment of the fees prescribed by the SEC. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information about the public reference room.

Upon completion of this offering, we will become subject to the information and periodic reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and will file periodic reports and other information with the SEC. These periodic reports and other information will be available for inspection and copying at the SEC’s public reference facilities and the website of the SEC referred to above.

Our website is www.mercadolibre.com . Information on our website should not be considered a part of this prospectus.

 

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Index to financial statements

 

     Page

MercadoLibre, Inc.

  

Unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements

  

Consolidated balance sheets as of March 31, 2007 (unaudited) and December 31, 2006

   F-2

Unaudited consolidated statements of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006

  

F-3

Unaudited consolidated statements of changes in shareholders’ deficit for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006

  

F-4

Unaudited consolidated statements of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006

  

F-6

Notes to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements

   F-7

Consolidated financial statements

  

Report of independent registered public accounting firm

   F-21

Consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2006 and 2005

   F-22

Consolidated statements of operations for the three years ended December 31, 2006

   F-23

Consolidated statements of changes in shareholders’ deficit for the three years ended December 31, 2006

   F-25

Consolidated statements of cash flows for the three years ended December 31, 2006

   F-27

Notes to consolidated financial statements

   F-29

DeRemate.com operations

  

Report of independent auditors

   F-64

Combined statements of operations, changes in net investment and cash flows for the period from January 1, 2005 to October 31, 2005

  

F-65

Notes to combined financial statements

   F-68

 

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Mercadolibre Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

as of March 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006

 

       March 31,
2007
    December 31,
2006
 
                  
     (Unaudited)        

Assets

    

Current assets:

    

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 6,390,163     $ 7,143,027  

Short-term investments

     7,736,592       6,320,656  

Accounts receivable

     2,430,730       1,983,003  

Funds receivable from customers

     9,944,735       10,188,712  

Prepaid expenses

     807,132       333,570  

Deferred tax assets

     2,776,920       2,904,558  

Other current assets

     293,981       246,352  
                

Total current assets

     30,380,253       29,119,878  

Non-current assets:

    

Long-term investments

     1,437,402        

Property and equipment, net

     3,076,521       2,931,470  

Goodwill and intangible assets, net

     21,707,341       21,342,315  

Deferred tax assets

     465,795       390,820  

Other assets

     111,287       28,089  
                

Total non-current assets

     26,798,346       24,692,694  

Total assets

   $ 57,178,599     $ 53,812,572  
                

Liabilities and Shareholders’ Deficit

    

Current liabilities:

    

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

   $ 6,605,771     $ 5,708,682  

Funds payable to customers

     8,493,490       9,085,013  

Social security payable

     3,423,901       2,722,874  

Taxes payable

     1,966,552       1,735,975  

Loans payable

     256,076       97,527  

Provisions

     16,563       310,848  
                

Total current liabilities

     20,762,353       19,660,919  

Non-current liabilities:

    

Loans payable

     9,000,000       9,000,000  

Other liabilities

     2,417,652       1,803,315  
                

Total non-current liabilities

     11,417,652       10,803,315  

Total liabilities

     32,180,005       30,464,234  
                

Commitments and contingencies (Note 7)

    

Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock, $0.01 par value, 45,600,000 shares authorized, 27,187,838 shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006; liquidation amount: $78,334,161 at March 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006

     64,200,264    





 
64,076,545  
                

Shareholders’ deficit:

    

Common stock, $0.01 par value, 108,800,000 shares authorized, 13,375,982 and 13,166,982 shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006

     133,760    





 
131,670  

Additional paid-in capital

     2,576,410       2,694,404  

Accumulated deficit

     (43,062,670 )     (44,054,817 )

Accumulated other comprehensive income

     1,150,830       500,536  
                

Total shareholders’ deficit

     (39,201,670 )     (40,728,207 )
                

Total liabilities, mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock and shareholders’ deficit

   $ 57,178,599     $ 53,812,572  
                
                  

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Consolidated statements of operations

for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006

(unaudited)

 

       Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2007     2006  
                  

Net revenues

   $ 16,459,337     $ 10,989,133  

Cost of net revenues

     (3,575,535 )     (2,516,296 )
                

Gross profit

     12,883,802       8,472,837  

Operating expenses:

    

Product and technology development

     (973,620 )     (705,504 )

Sales and marketing

     (6,316,397 )     (5,056,974 )

General and administrative

     (2,675,116 )     (1,923,262 )
                

Total operating expenses

     (9,965,133 )     (7,685,740 )
                

Income from operations

     2,918,669       787,097  
                

Other income (expenses):

    

Interest income

     97,717       41,765  

Interest expense and other financial charges

     (447,666 )     (395,979 )

Foreign currency (loss) gain

     (404,774 )     108,118  

Other expenses, net

     (284,637 )     (80,086 )
                

Net income before income / asset tax expense

     1,879,309       460,915  
                

Income / asset tax expense

     (885,122 )     (350,573 )
                

Net income

   $ 994,187     $ 110,342  
                

Accretion of preferred stock

     (123,719 )     (123,719 )
                

Net income / (loss) available to common shareholders

   $ 870,468     $ (13,377 )
                

Net income / (loss) per share:

    

Basic and Diluted

   $ 0.02     $ (0.00 )
                

Weighted average shares

    

Basic and Diluted

     13,375,482       13,114,575  
                
                  

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders’ Deficit

for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006 (unaudited)

 

       Comprehensive
income
    Common stock   

Additional
paid-in
capital

   

Accumulated
Deficit

   

Accumulated
other
comprehensive
income (loss)

         
       Shares    Amount          Total  
                                                    

Balance as of December 31, 2005

     13,095,863    $ 130,959    $ 3,149,663     $ (45,126,900 )   $ (560,542 )   $ (42,406,820 )
                                              

Stock options exercised

     42,695      427      5,939           6,366  

Stock-based compensation

             7,427           7,427  

Accretion of mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

             (123,719 )         (123,719 )

Net income

   110,342               110,342         110,342  

Currency translation adjustment

   783,758                 783,758       783,758  

Unrealized net gains on investments

   31,699                 31,699       31,699  
                    

Comprehensive income

   925,799                
                                                  

Balance as of March 31, 2006

     13,138,558    $ 131,386    $ 3,039,310     $ (45,016,558 )   $ 254,915     $ (41,590,947 )
                                              

Stock options exercised

     28,424      284      457           741  

Stock-based compensation

             25,796           25,796  

Accretion of mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

             (371,159 )         (371,159 )

Net income

   961,741               961,741         961,741  

Currency translation adjustment

   359,084                 359,084       359,084  

Unrealized net gains on investments

   70,631                 70,631       70,631  

Realized net gain on investments

   (184,094 )               (184,094 )     (184,094 )
                    

Comprehensive income

   1,207,362                
                                                  

Balance as of December 31, 2006

     13,166,982    $ 131,670    $ 2,694,404     $ (44,054,817 )   $ 500,536     $ (40,728,207 )
                                              

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders’ Deficit

for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006 (unaudited)

 

       Comprehensive
income
   Common stock    Additional
paid-in
capital
    Accumulated
Deficit
    Accumulated
other
comprehensive
income (loss)
   Total  
      Shares      Amount          
                                                  

Balance as of December 31, 2006

      13,166,982    $ 131,670    $ 2,694,404     $ (44,054,817 )   $ 500,536    $ (40,728,207 )
                                              

Shares issued in 2000 and 2001(1)

      204,000      2,040        (2,040 )        —    

Stock options exercised

      5,000      50      —              50  

Stock-based compensation

              5,725            5,725  

Accretion of mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

              (123,719 )          (123,719 )

Net income

   994,187              994,187          994,187  

Currency translation adjustment

   635,472                635,472      635,472  

Unrealized net gains on investments

   14,822                14,822      14,822  
                    

Comprehensive income

   1,644,481                
                                                

Balance as of March 31, 2007

      13,375,982    $ 133,760    $ 2,576,410     $ (43,062,670 )   $ 1,150,830    $ (39,201,670 )
                                                  
(1)   These shares were issued in 2000 and 2001, but were not recorded until 2007. The amounts are immaterial to revise prior years financial statements.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006 (unaudited)

       Three Months Ended
March 31,
 
     2007     2006  
                  

Cash flows from operations:

    

Net income

   $ 994,187     $ 110,342  

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities:

    

Depreciation and amortization

     534,556       469,584  

Interest expense

     157,500       210,000  

Realized gains on investments

     (13,742 )      

Unrealized gains on investments

     (57,146 )      

Stock-based compensation expense

     5,725       7,427  

Change in fair value of warrants

     284,637       80,086  

Deferred income taxes

     44,682       (108,372 )

Changes in assets and liabilities:

    

Accounts receivable

     (447,727 )     125,333  

Funds receivable from customers

     243,977       (1,698,807 )

Prepaid expenses

     (473,562 )     (164,454 )

Other assets

     (130,827 )     (522,783 )

Accounts payable

     1,828,693       949,836  

Funds payable to customers

     (591,523 )     359,814  

Provisions

     (294,285 )     (736,648 )

Other liabilities

     329,700       158,113  
                

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

     2,414,845       (760,529 )
                

Cash flows from investing activities:

    

Purchase of investments

     (4,904,402 )      

Proceeds from sale of investments

     2,144,755        

Purchase of intangible assets

     (20,179 )     (80,110 )

Purchases of property and equipment

     (568,313 )     (554,068 )
                

Net cash used in investing activities

     (3,348,139 )     (634,178 )
                

Cash flows from financing activities:

    

Increase in short term debt

     1,050        

Decrease in short term debt

           (274 )

Stock options exercised

     50       6,366  
                

Net cash provided by financing activities

     1,100       6,092  
                

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

     179,330       114,938  
                

Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents

     (752,864 )     (1,273,677 )

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year

     7,143,027       8,979,838  
                

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

   $ 6,390,163     $ 7,706,161  
                

Supplemental cash flow information:

    

Cash paid for income taxes

   $ 758,583     $ 446,219  

Non-cash financing activities:

    

Accretion of preferred stock—dividends

   $ 123,719     $ 123,719  
                
                  

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)

1. Nature of Business

MercadoLibre Inc. (the “Company”) is a marketplace manager. The Company’s mission is to build an online marketplace that enables practically anyone to trade almost anything in Latin America, making inefficient markets more efficient.

Traditional offline marketplaces can be inefficient because i) they are fragmented and regional, ii) offer a limited variety and breadth of goods, iii) have high transaction costs, and iv) are information inefficient. The Company makes these inefficient marketplaces more efficient because i) its community of users can easily and inexpensively communicate and complete transactions, ii) its marketplace includes a very wide variety and selection of goods, and iii) it brings buyers and sellers together for much lower fees than traditional intermediaries. The Company attracts buyers by offering selection, value, convenience and entertainment, and sellers by offering access to broad markets, efficient marketing and distribution costs, ability to maximize prices and opportunity to increase sales.

The Company pioneered online trading in the region by developing a Web-based community in which buyers and sellers are brought together to browse, buy and sell items such as computers, electronics, collectibles, automobiles and a host of practical and miscellaneous items. The Company’s trading platform is a fully automated, topically arranged, intuitive, and easy-to-use online service that is available 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The Company’s platform supports a fixed price format in which sellers and buyers trade items at a fixed price established by sellers, and an auction format in which sellers list items for sale and buyers bid on items of interest.

Providing more efficient and effective payment methods from buyers to sellers is essential to creating a faster, easier and safer online trading experience. Traditional payment methods such as bank deposits and cash on delivery present various obstacles to the online trading experience, including lengthy processing time, inconvenience and high costs. The Company addressed this opportunity through the introduction in 2004 of MercadoPago, an integrated online payments solution. MercadoPago was designed to facilitate transactions on the MercadoLibre Marketplace by providing an escrow mechanism that enables users to securely, easily and promptly send and receive payments online, and has experienced consistent growth since its launch.

In 2004, the Company introduced an online classified advertisements service platform for motor vehicles, vessels and aircrafts. Buyers usually require a physical inspection of these items or specific types of interaction before completing a transaction, and therefore a classified advertisements service is better suited for these types of items than the traditional online purchase method. For these items, buyers can search by make, model, year and price, and sellers can list their phone numbers and receive prospective buyers’ e-mail addresses, in order to allow for instant and direct communication between sellers and potential buyers. During 2005, the classified advertisements service platform was expanded to include real estate.

During 2006, the Company launched several initiatives to improve its platform, and expand its reach. Particularly relevant were the launch of a new platform for eShops, to attract lower

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

rotation items and increase the breadth of products offered, the introduction of user generated information guides for buyers, that improve the shopping experience, and the expansion of the online classifieds model by adding a services category. In terms of geographic expansion, the Company launched sites in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Panama.

As of March 31, 2007, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, operated online trading platforms directed towards Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, and online payments solutions directed towards Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated. Substantially all revenues and operating costs are generated in the Company’s foreign operations, amounting to approximately 99% and 98% of the consolidated totals during the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively. Long-lived assets located in the foreign operations totaled $23,276,318 and $22,602,151 as of March 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively. Cash and cash equivalents as well as short-term investments, totaling $14,126,755 and $13,463,683 at March 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006, respectively, are mainly located in the United States.

These unaudited interim financial statements reflect the Company’s consolidated financial position as of March 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006. These statements also show the Company’s consolidated statement of operations, its consolidated statement of shareholders’ deficit and its consolidated statement of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006. These statements include all normal recurring adjustments that Management believes are necessary to fairly state the Company’s financial position, operating results and cash flows. Because all of the disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America for annual consolidated financial statements are not included herein, these interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2006, included in the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 11, 2007. The condensed consolidated statements of income, shareholder’s deficit and cash flows for the periods presented are not necessarily indicative of results expected for any future period.

Use of estimates

The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

expenses during the reporting period. Estimates are used for, but not limited to accounting for allowance for doubtful accounts, depreciation, amortization, impairment and useful lives of long-lived assets, recognition of current and deferred income taxes and contingencies. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Uncertainty in Income Taxes

On January 1, 2007 the Company adopted Interpretation No. 48, “Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes – An Interpretation of FASB Statement No. 109” (“FIN 48”). This interpretation clarifies the accounting for uncertain tax positions recognized in a company’s financial statements in accordance with Statement 109. FIN 48 prescribes a more likely than not recognition threshold and measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. FIN 48 also provides guidance on de-recognition, classification of a liability for unrecognized tax benefits, accounting for interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, and expanded income tax disclosures. The adoption of FIN 48 had no significant impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

1. Fair Value Measurements

In September 2006, the FASB issued SFAS No. 157, “Fair Value Measurements” (“SFAS 157”). The changes to current practice resulting from the application of SFAS 157 relate to the definition of fair value, the methods used to estimate fair value, and the requirement for expanded disclosures about estimates of fair value. The definition of fair value retains the exchange price notion in earlier definitions of fair value. SFAS 157 clarifies that the exchange price is the price in an orderly transaction between market participants to sell the asset or transfer the liability in the market in which the reporting entity would transact for the asset or liability. SFAS 157 is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007. The Company is currently analyzing the impact that the adoption of SFAS 157 will have on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements.

2. Fair value for Financial Assets and Liabilities

In February 2007, the FASB issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 159, “The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities—Including an Amendment of FASB Statement No. 115” (“SFAS 159”) which is effective for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007.

This statement permits an entity to choose to measure many financial instruments and certain other items at fair value at specified election dates. Subsequent unrealized gains and losses on items for which the fair value option has been elected will be reported in earnings. The adoption of SFAS 159 will not have any material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

3. Net income / (loss) per share

Basic earnings (losses) per share for the Company’s common stock is computed by dividing net income / (loss) available to common shareholders attributable to common stock for the period by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period.

Net income / (loss) available to common shareholders is computed by deducting from net income (or by increasing net loss) accretion of preferred stock.

The Company’s mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock is a participating security. Accordingly, net income for the three months ended March 31, 2007, was allocated between common stock and preferred stock under the “two class method” for purposes of computing basic earnings per share.

Diluted earnings per share for the Company’s common stock assume the exercise of outstanding stock options under the Company’s stock based employee compensation plans. For diluted earnings per common share, net income was also allocated between common stock and preferred stock under the “two class method” because assuming that mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock is fully converted into common stock would result in the same dilutive effect.

The following table shows how net income is allocated using the two-class method for earnings per common share:

 

       Three months ended
March 31,
 
     2007     2006  
    

Basic and

Diluted

   

Basic and

Diluted

 
                  

Net income

   $ 994,187     $ 110,342  

Accretion of preferred stock

     (123,719 )     (123,719 )
                

Net income (loss) available to common shareholders

   $ 870,468     $ (13,377 )
                

Net income available to common shareholders attributable to preferred stock

     (583,437 )      
                

Net income (loss) available to common shareholders attributable to common stock

   $ 287,031     $ (13,377 )
                

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

Net income / (loss) per share of common stock is as follows for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006:

 

       Three months ended
March 31,
 
     2007    2006  
     Basic and
Diluted
   Basic and
Diluted
 
                 

Net income / (loss) available to common shareholders per common share

   $ 0.02    $ (0.00 )
               

Numerator:

     

Net income / (loss) available to common shareholders

   $ 287,031    $ (13,377 )
               

Denominator:

     

Weighted average of common stock outstanding for Basic and Diluted earnings per share

     13,375,482      13,114,575  
               

The calculation of diluted net income / (loss) per share excludes all anti-dilutive shares. For the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, the numbers of anti-dilutive shares are as follows:

 

       Three months
ended March 31,
     2007    2006
           

Anti-dilutive shares

     

Warrants

   184,272    184,272

Options

   628,081    673,431
         
   812,353    857,703
         

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

4. Goodwill and Intangible Assets

The composition of goodwill and intangible assets is as follows:

 

       March 31,     December 31,  
     2007     2006  
                  

Indefinite lived assets

    

—Goodwill

   $ 21,018,326     $ 20,572,792  

Amortizable intangible assets

    

—Trademarks & Licenses

     1,344,278       1,333,321  

—Non-compete agreement

     631,584       605,706  

—Customer list

     538,153       524,172  
                

Total intangible assets

   $ 23,532,341     $ 23,035,991  

Accumulated amortization

     (1,825,000 )     (1,693,676 )
                
   $ 21,707,341     $ 21,342,315  
                

Goodwill

The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and the year ended December 31, 2006, are as follows:

 

       Three Month Ended March 31, 2007
     Marketplaces
     Brazil    Mexico     Other Countries    Total
                              

Balance, beginning of period

   $ 10,233,062    $ 4,911,840     $ 5,427,890    $ 20,572,792

—Effect of exchange rates changes

     437,191      (77,874 )     86,217      445,534
                            

Balance, end of period

   $ 10,670,253    $ 4,833,966     $ 5,514,107    $ 21,018,326
                            

 

       Year Ended December 31, 2006
     Marketplaces
     Brazil    Mexico     Other Countries    Total
                              

Balance, beginning of year

   $ 9,346,899    $ 4,987,323     $ 5,323,575    $ 19,657,797

—Effect of exchange rates changes

     886,163      (75,483 )     104,315      914,995
                            

Balance, end of year

   $ 10,233,062    $ 4,911,840     $ 5,427,890    $ 20,572,792
                            

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

Amortizable intangibles assets

Amortizable intangible assets are comprised of customer lists and user base, trademarks and trade names, acquired software licenses and other acquired intangible assets including a non-compete agreement and developed technologies. Aggregate amortization expense for intangible assets totaled $100,351 and $138,030 for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively.

Expected future intangible asset amortization from acquisitions completed as of March 31, 2007 is as follows:

 

For year ended 12/31/2007 (remaining nine month)

   $ 288,987

For year ended 12/31/2008

     228,325

For year ended 12/31/2009

     114,148

Thereafter

     57,555
      
   $ 689,015
        

5. Segments

Reporting segments are based upon the Company’s internal organization structure, the manner in which the Company’s operations are managed, the criteria used by the Company’s chief operating decision-maker to evaluate segment performance, the availability of separate financial information, and overall materiality considerations.

The Marketplace segments include Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Other countries (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) online marketplaces commerce platforms. The Payments segment includes the Company’s regional payments platform consisting of our business of MercadoPago.

Direct contribution consists of revenues less direct costs. Direct costs include specific costs of net revenues, sales and marketing expenses, and general and administrative expenses over which segment managers have direct discretionary control, such as advertising and marketing programs, customer support expenses, bank charges, allowances for doubtful accounts, authorized credits and transaction losses.

Expenses over which segment managers do not currently have discretionary control, such as certain technology and general and administrative costs, are monitored by management through shared cost centers and are not evaluated in the measurement of segment performance.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

The following tables summarize the financial performance of the Company’s reporting segments:

 

      Three Months Ended March 31, 2007  
    Marketplaces              
    Brazil     Argentina     Mexico     Other
Countries
    Total     Payments     Consolidated  
                                                         

Net revenues

  $ 7,698,921     $ 2,208,004     $ 2,181,836     $ 2,106,070     $ 14,194,831     $ 2,264,506     $ 16,459,337  

Direct costs

    (5,078,637 )     (1,226,086 )     (1,368,055 )     (1,367,392 )     (9,040,170 )     (2,044,293 )     (11,084,463 )
                                                       

Direct contribution

    2,620,284       981,918       813,781       738,678       5,154,661       220,213       5,374,874  

Operating expenses and indirect costs of net revenues

                (2,456,205 )
                   

Income from operations

                2,918,669  
                   

Other income (expenses):

             

Interest income

                97,717  

Interest expense and other financial results

                (447,666 )

Foreign exchange

                (404,774 )

Other expenses, net

                (284,637 )
                   

Net income before income / asset tax expense

              $ 1,879,309  
                   

 

      Three Months Ended March 31, 2006  
    Marketplaces              
    Brazil     Argentina     Mexico     Other
Countries
    Total     Payments     Consolidated  
                                                         

Net revenues

  $ 5,823,967     $ 1,319,645     $ 1,355,783     $ 1,082,302     $ 9,581,697     $ 1,407,436     $ 10,989,133  

Direct costs

    (4,184,546 )     (965,979 )     (1,131,679 )     (860,119 )     (7,142,323 )     (1,323,354 )     (8,465,677 )
                                                       

Direct contribution

    1,639,421       353,666       224,104       222,183       2,439,374       84,082       2,523,456  

Operating expenses and indirect costs of net revenues

                (1,736,359 )
                   

Income from operations

                787,097  
                   

Other income (expenses):

             

Interest income

                41,765  

Interest expense and other financial results

                (395,979 )

Foreign exchange

                108,118  

Other expenses, net

                (80,086 )
                   

Net income before income / asset tax expense

              $ 460,915  
                   

 

F-14


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

The following table summarizes the allocation of net revenues based on geography:

 

      

Three Months Ended

March 31,

     2007    2006
               

Brazil

   $ 9,379,577    $ 6,799,188

Argentina

     2,422,945      1,488,110

Mexico

     2,430,136      1,564,713

Other countries

     2,226,679      1,137,122
             

Total net revenues

   $ 16,459,337    $ 10,989,133
             

The following table summarizes the allocation of the long-lived tangible assets based on geography:

 

       March 31,
2007
   December 31,
2006
               

US long-lived tangible assets

   $ 1,491,073    $ 1,578,122

Other countries long-lived tangible assets

     

Argentina

     971,026      827,438

Brazil

     557,995      459,978

Mexico

     36,913      43,542

Other countries

     19,514      22,390
             
   $ 1,585,448    $ 1,353,348
             

Total long-lived tangible assets

   $ 3,076,521    $ 2,931,470
             

The following table summarizes the allocation of the goodwill and intangible assets based on geography:

 

       March 31,
2007
   December 31,
2006
               

US intangible assets

   $ 127,758    $ 121,602

Other countries goodwill and intangible assets

     

Argentina

     310,218      379,785

Brazil

     10,772,651      10,341,961

Mexico

     4,899,005      4,982,529

Rest

     5,597,709      5,516,438
             
   $ 21,579,583    $ 21,220,713
             

Total goodwill and intangible assets

   $ 21,707,341    $ 21,342,315
             

 

F-15


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

6. Stock Option Plan

In October 1999, the Company adopted the 1999 Stock Option Plan (the “Plan”). At March 31, 2007, the Company has reserved 4,732,400 shares of Class A Common Stock for issuance under the Plan. Awards granted under the Plan are at the discretion of the Company’s Board of Directors and may be in the form of either incentive or nonqualified stock options. Options granted under the Plan generally vest over a three to four year period and expire ten years after the date of grant. At March 31, 2007, there are 296,437 shares of Class A Common stock available for additional awards under the Plan.

Up to December 31, 2005, when options were granted to employees, a non-cash charge representing the difference between the exercise price and the fair market value of the common stock underlying the options on the date of grant was recorded as reduction of shareholders’ equity and amortized over the vesting period.

On January 1, 2006, the Company adopted the provisions of SFAS No. 123(R) requiring the recognition of compensation expense based upon the grant date fair value of its stock-based compensation awards.

Stock-based compensation expense related to stock options and employee stock purchases for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006 was allocated as follows:

 

       Three Months
Ended March 31,
     2007    2006
               

Product and technology development

   $ 1,152    $ 2,185

Sales and marketing

     2,568      4,871

General and administrative

     2,005      371
             

Total

   $ 5,725    $ 7,427

The effect of adopting SFAS No. 123(R) per basic and per diluted share for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, is not material.

In accordance with SFAS No. 123(R), the Company uses the Black-Scholes option pricing model to measure the fair value of its option awards granted after January 1, 2006. The Black-Scholes model requires the input of highly subjective assumptions including volatility, expected term, risk-free interest rate and dividend yield. In 2005, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 107 (“SAB No. 107”) which provides supplemental implementation guidance for SFAS No. 123(R). Since the Company has no history of volatility, the expected volatility is based on the historical volatilities of similar entities’ common stock over the most recent period commensurate with the estimated expected term of the awards. The expected term of an award is based on the “simplified” method allowed by SAB No. 107, whereby the expected term is equal to the midpoint between the vesting date and the end of the contractual term of the award. The risk-free interest rate is based on the rate on U.S. Treasury zero coupon issues with maturities consistent with the estimated expected term of the awards. The Company has not paid dividends

 

F-16


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

and does not anticipate paying a dividend in the foreseeable future and accordingly, uses an expected dividend yield of zero.

There was no granting during the three months ended March 31, 2007.

The following weighted-average assumptions were used in estimating the fair value of options for the three months ended March 31, 2006:

—Stock price volatility: 36%

—Expected term: 7 years

—Risk-free interest rate: 6%

The weighted-average grant date fair value of options granted during the three months period ended March 31, 2006 was $2.93.

Stock-based compensation expense recognized is based on the estimated portion of the awards that are expected to vest. The Company also estimated expected forfeitures of stock options upon adoption of SFAS 123(R). In developing a forfeiture rate estimate, Management considered its historical experience and expectations. Actual forfeiture activity may differ from the estimated forfeiture rate.

Stock option activity, for the three months period ended March 31, 2007, is as follows:

 

       Number of
Options
    Weighted-
average
exercise price
              

Outstanding, beginning of year

   633,331     $ 0.33

Lapsed

   (750 )     0.01

Exercised

   (5,000 )     0.01
            

Outstanding, end of period

   627,581       0.33
            

Exercisable, end of period

   589,651     $ 0.23
            

 

F-17


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

              Outstanding    Exercisable
Exercise price    Number
of
options
   Weighted-
average
remaining
contractual
life (years)
   Number of
options
                  

$0.01

   471,074    0.09      462,200

$0.75

   65,000         65,000

$1.00

   35,000         35,000

$1.50

   46,007    1.94      23,451

$3.00

   4,000         4,000

$6.00

   6,500    3.43     
                
   627,581    0.25      589,651
                

Weighted average Exercise Price

        

—Options outstanding

         $ 0.33

—Options exercisable

         $ 0.23
                  

7. Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation and Other Legal Matters

At the beginning of 2007, the Brazilian subsidiary of the Company had 60 cases in litigation in ordinary courts, 4 of which (QIX Skateboards Industria e Comercio Ltda., Editora COC Empreendimentos Culturais Ltda., Vintage Denim Ltda. (“Vintage”) and Barros, Fischer e Associados Ltda. (“Barros, Fischer”) were related to alleged intellectual property infringement. As of March 31, 2007, the Brazilian subsidiary of the Company was sued in 18 cases in ordinary courts. In most of these cases the plaintiffs asserted that the Company was responsible for fraud committed against them, or responsible for damages suffered when purchasing an item on the website, when using MercadoPago, or when the Company invoiced them. One of the lawsuits was related to alleged intellectual property infringement, filed by Fallms Distribuição de Fitas Ltda. (“Fallms”) and by Nacional Distribuidora de Fitas Ltda. (“100% Nacional”) alleging that the Brazilian subsidiary was infringing its intellectual property rights as a result of users selling unauthorized copies of their copyrighted movies through the Brazilian web site and by using their trademark “Brasileirinhas” on such copies.

As of March 31, 2007, 79 legal actions were still in litigation in the Brazilian ordinary courts. In addition, as of March 31, 2007, the Brazilian subsidiary of the Company received more than 400 legal actions in consumer courts, where a lawyer is not required. In most of the cases, the plaintiffs asserted that the Company was responsible for fraud committed against them, or responsible for damages suffered when purchasing an item on the website, when using MercadoPago, or when the Company invoiced them. As of March 31, 2007, there were more than 900 cases still in litigation in these consumer courts.

 

F-18


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

In February 2007, the claim filed by Barros, Fischer was settled. In order to settle the case, no consideration was paid to plaintiff and the parties agreed to establish procedures to protect Barros, Fischer’s intellectual property rights based on the notice and take down of alleged infringing items listed in the Brazilian web site.

As of March 31, 2007 the Company had established reserves of $329,074 to cover 157 legal actions against the Company’s subsidiary in Brazil, and $30,955 to cover some lawsuits against DeRemate Brazil because a loss was considered probable. As of March 31, 2007 no loss amount has been accrued over 682 legal actions in Brazil for the aggregate amount up to $2,654,513 because a loss is not considered probable or estimable.

Other third parties have from time to time claimed, and others may claim in the future, that the Company was responsible for fraud committed against them, or that the Company has infringed their intellectual property rights. The underlying laws with respect to the potential liability of online intermediaries like the Company are unclear in the jurisdictions where the Company operates. Management believes that additional lawsuits alleging that the Company has violated copyright or trademark laws will be filed against the Company. Intellectual property claims, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming and costly to resolve, could require expensive changes in the Company’s methods of doing business, or could require the Company to enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements. The Company may be subject to patent disputes, and be subject to patent infringement claims as the Company’s services expand in scope and complexity. In particular, the Company may face additional patent infringement claims involving various aspects of the Payments businesses.

From time to time, the Company is involved in other disputes or regulatory inquiries that arise in the ordinary course of business. The number and significance of these disputes and inquiries are increasing as the Company’s business expands and the Company grows larger. Any claims or regulatory actions against the Company, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant amounts of management time, and result in the diversion of significant operational resources.

Litigation after March 31, 2007

In May 2007, the Company’s Brazilian subsidiary was summoned of a lawsuit filed in March 2007 by Xuxa Promoçoes e Produçoes Artisticas Ltda. The plaintiff, a company owned by “Xuxa”, a popular TV personality in Brazil, alleges that counterfeit copies of one of her CDs and of a movie with her participation as an actress (she owns the copyrights and prohibits the exhibition and sale of it) are being sold on the MercadoLibre platform using her brand name without her consent, arguing that under Brazilian law this constitutes copyright and trademark infringement. During 2007 up to date, the Company’s Brazilian subsidiary was also demanded in 26 other cases in Brazilian ordinary courts and 330 new cases in consumer courts.

 

F-19


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre Inc.

Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited)(continued)

 

Other contingencies

As of March 31, 2007 the Company had reserved $182,070 against some tax contingencies identified in some of its subsidiaries.

Operating Leases

The Company has leases for office space in the various countries it operates in. Total rental expense amounted to approximately $168,613 and $103,610 for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively.

Minimum remaining annual commitments under the non-cancelable operating leases are as follows:

 

2007 (remaining nine months)

   $ 758,505

2008

     393,118

2009

     62,240
      
   $ 1,213,863
      

Employment Contracts

Certain executive employees are employed under contracts which provide for annual base salaries aggregating to approximately $1,210,000 per year, a performance based bonus, and some fringe benefits. The employment contracts automatically renew annually, if not previously cancelled. All these contracts include clauses which in the event of employment termination without proper reason, require payment of full wages for one year after employment termination.

* * * *

 

F-20


Table of Contents

Report of independent registered public accounting firm

To the Board of Directors and

Shareholders of Mercadolibre, Inc.

In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and the related consolidated statements of operations, of changes in shareholders’ deficit and of cash flows present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Mercadolibre, Inc. and its subsidiaries at December 31, 2006 and 2005, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2006 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits of these statements in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

As discussed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for warrants in 2005.

PRICE WATERHOUSE & Co. S.R.L.

 

By:

 

/s/ Juan C. Grassi

  (Partner)
  Juan C. Grassi  

Buenos Aires, Argentina

May 11, 2007

 

F-21


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Consolidated balance sheets

as of December 31, 2006 and 2005

 

       2006     2005  
   

Assets

    

Current assets:

    

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 7,143,027     $ 8,979,838  

Short-term investments

     6,320,656       3,411,266  

Accounts receivable

     1,983,003       2,386,078  

Funds receivable from customers

     10,188,712       4,162,486  

Prepaid expenses

     333,570       126,440  

Deferred tax assets

     2,904,558       619,179  

Other current assets

     246,352       413,735  
                

Total current assets

     29,119,878       20,099,022  

Non-current assets:

    

Property and equipment, net

     2,931,470       2,343,623  

Goodwill and intangible assets, net

     21,342,315       20,564,179  

Deferred tax assets

     390,820       1,384,650  

Other assets

     28,089       28,299  
                

Total non-current assets

     24,692,694       24,320,751  

Total assets

   $ 53,812,572     $ 44,419,773  
                

Liabilities and Shareholders’ Deficit

    

Current liabilities:

    

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

   $ 5,708,682     $ 2,661,208  

Funds payable to customers

     9,085,013       4,380,905  

Social security payable

     2,722,874       1,463,134  

Taxes payable

     1,735,975       1,391,925  

Loans payable

     97,527       131,085  

Provisions

     310,848       870,582  
                

Total current liabilities

     19,660,919       10,898,839  

Non-current liabilities:

    

Loans payable

     9,000,000       12,000,000  

Other liabilities

     1,803,315       346,087  
                

Total non-current liabilities

     10,803,315       12,346,087  

Total liabilities

     30,464,234       23,244,926  
                

Commitments and contingencies (Note 14)

    

Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock, $0.01 par value, 45,600,000 shares authorized, 27,187,838 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2006 and 2005; liquidation amount: $78,334,161 at December 31, 2006 and 2005

     64,076,545       63,581,667  
                

Shareholders’ deficit:

    

Common stock, $0.01 par value, 108,800,000 shares authorized, 13,166,982 and 13,095,863 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2006 and 2005

     131,670       130,959  

Additional paid-in capital

     2,694,404       3,149,663  

Accumulated deficit

     (44,054,817 )     (45,126,900 )

Accumulated other comprehensive income / (loss)

     500,536       (560,542 )
                

Total shareholders’ deficit

     (40,728,207 )     (42,406,820 )
                

Total liabilities, mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock and shareholders’ deficit

   $ 53,812,572     $ 44,419,773  
                
   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

F-22


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Consolidated statements of operations

for the three years ended December 31, 2006

 

       2006     2005     2004  
   

Net revenues

   $ 52,058,890     $ 28,249,677     $ 12,663,332  

Cost of net revenues

     (12,085,648 )     (6,138,732 )     (2,489,608 )
                        

Gross profit

     39,973,242       22,110,945       10,173,724  

Operating expenses:

      

Product and technology development

     (3,066,304 )     (2,186,220 )     (1,329,552 )

Sales and marketing

     (23,358,510 )     (14,732,310 )     (9,130,800 )

General and administrative

     (8,150,499 )     (4,380,553 )     (3,062,785 )
                        

Total operating expenses

     (34,575,313 )     (21,299,083 )     (13,523,137 )
                        

Income / (Loss) from operations

     5,397,929       811,862       (3,349,413 )
                        

Other income (expenses):

      

Interest income

     520,508       351,779       1,245,793  

Interest expense and other financial charges

     (1,743,315 )     (456,430 )     (329,279 )

Foreign currency (loss) gain

     (391,981 )     250,432       211,146  

Other expenses, net(1)(2)

     (1,468,220 )     (292,173 )     (19,876 )
                        

Net income / (loss) before income / asset tax and cumulative effect of change in acounting principle

     2,314,921       665,470       (2,241,629 )
                        

Income / asset tax (expense) benefit

     (1,242,838 )     1,369,362       35,611  
                        

Net income / (loss) before cumulative effect of change in acounting principle

     1,072,083       2,034,832       (2,206,018 )
                        

Cumulative effect of change in acounting principle(1)

           319,304        
                        

Net income / (loss)

   $ 1,072,083     $ 2,354,136     $ (2,206,018 )
                        

Accretion of preferred stock

     (494,878 )     (494,878 )     (494,878 )
                        

Net income / (loss) available to common shareholders

   $ 577,205     $ 1,859,258     $ (2,700,896 )
                        
   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

F-23


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Consolidated statements of operations (continued)

for the three years ended December 31, 2006

 

       2006    2005    2004  
   

Basic EPS

        

Basic net income (loss) available to common shareholders before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle per common share

   $ 0.01    $ 0.04    $ (0.21 )

Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle per common share

          0.01       
                      

Basic net income (loss) available to common shareholders per common share

   $ 0.01    $ 0.05    $ (0.21 )
                      

Weighted average shares

     13,149,139      13,065,496      12,739,980  
                      

Diluted EPS

        

Diluted net income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle per common share

      $ 0.04   

Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle per common share

        0.01   
            

Diluted net income (loss) per common share

      $ 0.05   
            

Weighted average shares

        13,671,359   
            
   

 

(1)   For the year ended December 31, 2005, represents the impact of the adoption of Staff Position 150-5, Issuer’s Accounting under Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statement No. 150 for Freestanding Warrants and Other Similar Instruments on Shares That Are Redeemable (“FSP 150-5”). Pursuant to FSP 150-5, the Company is required to classify its outstanding warrants to purchase mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock as a liability on the consolidated balance sheet and record adjustments to their fair value in the consolidated statements of operations at the end of each reporting period. For the year ended December 31, 2005, the impact of the change in accounting principle, net of tax, was to increase net income by $169,594, consisting of a $319,304 cumulative effect adjustment for the change in accounting principle as of July 1, 2005, when the Company adopted FSP 150-5, and $149,710 of expense that was recorded in other expenses, net to reflect the increase in fair value between July 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005. The warrants are subject to revaluation at each balance sheet date and any change in fair value will be recognized as a component of other expenses, net, until the exercise of the warrants.

 

(2)   For the year ended December 31, 2006, the Company recorded in other expenses, net $825,095, of expense to reflect the after tax increase in fair value between December 31, 2005 and December 31, 2006.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

F-24


Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Consolidated statements of changes in shareholders’ deficit

for the three years ended December 31, 2006

 

      Comprehensive
income (loss)
    Common stock  

Additional
paid-in

capital

   

Preferred
stock

warrants

   

Unearned
stock-based

compensation

   

Accumulated

deficit

   

Accumulated
other
comprehensive

income (loss)

         
      Shares   Amount             Total  
   

Balance as of December 31, 2003

    12,278,072   $ 122,781   $ 4,114,717     $ 582,000     $ (18,824 )   $ (45,275,018 )   $ (389,365 )   $ (40,863,709 )
                                                           

Stock options exercised

    735,137     7,351     18,000               25,351  

Issuance of stock options

          118         (118 )          

Forfeiture of stock options

          (1,592 )       1,592            

Stock-based compensation

              17,350           17,350  

Accretion of mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

          (494,878 )             (494,878 )

Net loss

  (2,206,018 )               (2,206,018 )       (2,206,018 )

Currency translation adjustment

  406,946                   406,946       406,946  

Unrealized net gains on investments

  46,195                   46,195       46,195  

Realized net gain on investments

  (1,015,838 )                 (1,015,838 )     (1,015,838 )
                     

Comprehensive loss

  (2,768,715 )                
           

Balance as of December 31, 2004

    13,013,209   $ 130,132   $ 3,636,365     $ 582,000     $     $ (47,481,036 )   $ (952,062 )   $ (44,084,601 )
                                                           

Stock options exercised

    82,654     827     8,176               9,003  

Reclassification of warrants to liabilities

            (582,000 )           (582,000 )

Accretion of mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

          (494,878 )             (494,878 )

Net income

  2,354,136                 2,354,136         2,354,136  

Currency translation adjustment

  499,916                   499,916       499,916  

Unrealized net gains on investments

  75,044                   75,044       75,044  

Realized net gain on investments

  (183,440 )                 (183,440 )     (183,440 )
                     

Comprehensive income

  2,745,656                  
           

Balance as of December 31, 2005

    13,095,863   $ 130,959   $ 3,149,663     $     $     $ (45,126,900 )   $ (560,542 )   $ (42,406,820 )
                                                           
   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Consolidated statements of changes in shareholders’ deficit

for the three years ended December 31, 2006

 

      

Comprehensive

income

    Common stock   

Additional
paid-in

capital

   

Accumulated

deficit

   

Accumulated

other

comprehensive

income (loss)

   

Total

 
       Shares    Amount         
   

Balance as of December 31, 2005

     13,095,863    $ 130,959    $ 3,149,663     $ (45,126,900 )   $ (560,542 )   $ (42,406,820 )
                                              

Stock options exercised

     71,119    $ 711      6,396           7,107  

Stock-based compensation

             33,223           33,223  

Accretion of mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

             (494,878 )         (494,878 )

Net income

   1,072,083               1,072,083         1,072,083  

Currency translation adjustment

   1,142,842                 1,142,842       1,142,842  

Unrealized net gains on investments

   102,330                 102,330       102,330  

Realized net gain on investments

   (184,094 )               (184,094 )     (184,094 )
                    

Comprehensive income

   2,133,161                
                                                  

Balance as of December 31, 2006

     13,166,982    $ 131,670    $ 2,694,404     $ (44,054,817 )   $ 500,536     $ (40,728,207 )
                                              
   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Consolidated statements of cash flows

for the three years ended December 31, 2006

 

      2006     2005     2004  
   

Cash flows from operations:

     

Net income (loss)

  $ 1,072,083     $ 2,354,136     $ (2,206,018 )

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:

     

Depreciation and amortization

    2,016,939       1,572,497       1,084,483  

Interest expense

    96,833       128,333        

Realized gains on investments

    (184,094 )     (183,440 )     (1,015,838 )

Unrealized gains on investments

    (46,926 )            

Stock-based compensation expense

    33,223             17,350  

Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

          (319,304 )      

Change in fair value of warrants

    1,269,377       230,323        

Deferred income taxes

    (1,291,549 )     (2,003,829 )      

Changes in assets and liabilities:

     

Accounts receivable

    403,075       (645,644 )     (989,226 )

Funds receivable from customers

    (6,026,226 )     (2,704,002 )     (1,458,484 )

Prepaid expenses

    (207,130 )     (91,926 )     (13,297 )

Other assets

    167,593       218,933       467,917  

Accounts payable

    4,651,264       1,957,580       1,102,696  

Funds payable to customers

    4,704,108       2,869,190       1,511,715  

Provisions

    (559,734 )     308,146       (15,087 )

Other liabilities

    59,518       (252,389 )     (4 )
                       

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

    6,158,354       3,438,604       (1,513,793 )
                       

Cash flows from investing activities:

     

Purchase of investments

    (4,944,956 )           (89,350 )

Proceeds from sale of investments

    2,184,822       1,106,712       9,562,987  

Payment for purchase of DeRemate, net of cash acquired

          (12,141,243 )      

Purchase of intangible assets

    (346,365 )     (548,886 )     (217,630 )

Purchases of property and equipment

    (2,097,555 )     (1,455,717 )     (1,904,390 )
                       

Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities

    (5,204,054 )     (13,039,134 )     7,351,617  
                       

Cash flows from financing activities:

     

Increase in short term debt

          2,335       277  

Decrease in short term debt

    (2,058 )            

Loans received

          12,000,000        

Loans paid

    (3,000,000 )            

Stock options exercised

    7,107       9,003       25,351  
                       

Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities

    (2,994,951 )     12,011,338       25,628  
                       

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

    203,840       (455,328 )     (157,901 )
                       

Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents

    (1,836,811 )     1,955,480       5,705,551  

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year

    8,979,838       7,024,358       1,318,807  
                       

Cash and cash equivalents, end of year

  $ 7,143,027     $ 8,979,838     $ 7,024,358  
                       
   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Consolidated statements of cash flows (continued)

for the three years ended December 31, 2006

       2006    2005     2004
 

Supplemental cash flow information:

       

Cash paid for interest

   $ 851,667    $     $

Cash paid for income taxes

   $ 1,916,975    $ 781,857     $

Non-cash financing activities:

       

Accretion of preferred stock—dividends

   $ 494,878    $ 494,878     $ 494,878
                     

Acquisition of DeRemate subsidiaries:

       

Cash and cash equivalents

   $    $ 168,951     $

Accounts receivable

          210,354      

Prepaid expenses

          969      

Other current assets

          232,092      
                     

Total assets acquired

          612,366      
                     

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

          175,886      

Social security payable

          62,571      

Other current liabilities

          42,561      

Provisions

          445,754      
                     

Total liabilities assumed

          726,772      
                     

Net assets acquired

          (114,406 )    
                     

Goodwill

          12,124,000      

Customer list

        300,600    
                     

Purchase price

          12,310,194      
                     

Cash and cash equivalents acquired

          (168,951 )    
                     

Payment for purchase of DeRemate, net of cash acquired

   $    $ 12,141,243     $
 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements

1. Nature of business

MercadoLibre, Inc. (the “Company”) is a marketplace manager. The Company’s mission is to build an online marketplace that enables practically anyone to trade almost anything in Latin America, making inefficient markets more efficient.

Traditional offline marketplaces can be inefficient because i) they are fragmented and regional, ii) offer a limited variety and breadth of goods, iii) have high transaction costs, and iv) are information inefficient. The Company makes these inefficient marketplaces more efficient because i) its community of users can easily and inexpensively communicate and complete transactions, ii) its marketplace includes a very wide variety and selection of goods, and iii) it brings buyers and sellers together for much lower fees than traditional intermediaries. The Company attracts buyers by offering selection, value, convenience and entertainment, and sellers by offering access to broad markets, efficient marketing and distribution costs, ability to maximize prices and opportunity to increase sales.

The Company pioneered online trading in the region by developing a Web-based community in which buyers and sellers are brought together to browse, buy and sell items such as computers, electronics, collectibles, automobiles and a host of practical and miscellaneous items. The Company’s trading platform is a fully automated, topically arranged, intuitive, and easy-to-use online service that is available 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The Company’s platform supports a fixed price format in which sellers and buyers trade items at a fixed price established by sellers, and an auction format in which sellers list items for sale and buyers bid on items of interest.

Providing more efficient and effective payment methods from buyers to sellers is essential to creating a faster, easier and safer online trading experience. Traditional payment methods such as bank deposits and cash on delivery present various obstacles to the online trading experience, including lengthy processing time, inconvenience and high costs. The Company addressed this opportunity through the introduction in 2004 of MercadoPago, an integrated online payments solution. MercadoPago was designed to facilitate transactions on the MercadoLibre Marketplace by providing an escrow mechanism that enables users to securely, easily and promptly send and receive payments online, and has experienced consistent growth since its launch.

In 2004, the Company introduced an online classified advertisements service platform for motor vehicles, vessels and aircrafts. Buyers usually require a physical inspection of these items or specific types of interaction before completing a transaction, and therefore a classified advertisements service is better suited for these types of items than the traditional online purchase method. For these items, buyers can search by make, model, year and price, and sellers can list their phone numbers and receive prospective buyers’ e-mail addresses, in order to allow for instant and direct communication between sellers and potential buyers. During 2005, the classified advertisements service platform was expanded to include real estate.

During 2006, the Company launched several initiatives to improve its platform, and expand its reach. Particularly relevant were the launch of a new platform for eShops, to attract lower rotation items and increase the breadth of products offered, the introduction of user generated information guides for buyers, that improve the shopping experience, and the expansion of the

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

online classifieds model by adding a services category. In terms of geographic expansion, the Company launched sites in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Panama.

As of December 31, 2006, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, operated online trading platforms directed towards Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, and online payments solutions directed towards Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela.

2. Summary of significant accounting policies

Principles of consolidation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated. Certain reclassifications have been made to prior years information to conform to current year presentation.

Substantially all revenues and operating costs are generated in the Company’s foreign operations, amounting to approximately 98%, 98% and 97% of the consolidated totals during 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively. Long-lived assets located in the foreign operations totaled $22,602,151 and $21,505,596 as of December 31, 2006 and 2005, respectively. Cash and cash equivalents as well as short-term investments, totaling $13,463,683 and $12,391,104 at December 31, 2006 and 2005, respectively, are mainly located in the United States.

Use of estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Estimates are used for, but not limited to accounting for allowance for doubtful accounts, depreciation, amortization, impairment and useful lives of long-lived assets, recognition of current and deferred income taxes and contingencies. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cash and cash equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less at the date of purchase, consisting primarily of debt securities and certificates of deposit, to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents are stated at amortized cost plus accrued interest.

Investments

Securities classified as available-for-sale are recorded at fair market value. Unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale securities are recorded as accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) as a separate component of shareholders’ deficit. Investments classified as held-to-maturity

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

are recorded at amortized cost with unrealized gains or losses recorded in earnings. As the Company’s investments are available to fund operations and mature in less than one year, all investments are classified as current assets.

Concentration of credit risk

Cash, cash equivalents, investments and accounts receivable are potentially subject to concentration of credit risk. Cash and cash equivalents and investments are placed with financial institutions that management believes are of high credit quality. Accounts receivable are derived from revenue earned from customers located internationally. Accounts receivable balances are settled through customer credit cards, debit cards, and MercadoPago accounts, with the majority of accounts receivable collected upon processing of credit card transactions. The Company maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts receivable and funds receivable from customers based upon its historical experience. Historically, such losses have been within management expectations. However, unexpected or significant future changes in trends could result in a material impact to future statements of income or cash flows. Due to the relatively small dollar amount of individual accounts receivable, the Company generally does not require collateral on these balances. The allowance for doubtful accounts is recorded as a charge to operating expense.

During the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005, and 2004, no customers accounted for more than 10% of net revenues. As of December 31, 2006 and 2005, no customers accounted for more than 10% of net accounts.

Allowance for doubtful accounts

The Company maintains allowances for doubtful accounts for estimated losses that may result from the inability of its customers to make required payments. Allowances are based upon several factors including, but not limited to, historical experience and the current condition of specific customers.

Funds receivable and funds payable to customers

Funds receivable relate to the Company’s Payments segment and arise due to the time taken to clear transactions through external payment networks. When customers fund their account using their bank account or credit card, there is a period before the cash is received by the Company. Hence, these funds are treated as a receivable until the cash is settled. These funds are presented net of the related allowance for chargebacks.

Funds payable relate also to the Company’s Payments segment and represent amounts due to customers which are held by the Company until the transaction is completed.

Property and equipment, net

Property and equipment are recorded at cost and depreciated over their estimated useful lives using the straight-line method. Repairs and maintenance costs are expensed as incurred.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Costs related to the planning and post implementation phases of website development efforts are recorded as an operating expense. Direct costs incurred in the development phase are capitalized and amortized over an estimated useful life of three years.

Goodwill and intangible assets, net

Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired in a business combination. Goodwill is not subject to amortization, but is subject to at least an annual assessment for impairment, applying a fair-value based test.

Intangible assets resulting from the acquisitions of entities accounted for using the purchase method of accounting are estimated by management based on the fair value of assets received. Identifiable intangible assets are comprised of purchased customer lists, trademarks and licenses and non-compete agreements. Identifiable intangible assets are being amortized over the period of estimated benefit using the straight-line method and estimated useful lives ranging from three to five years.

Impairment of long-lived assets

The Company reviews long-lived assets for impairments whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to undiscounted future net cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If such assets are considered to be impaired on this basis, the impairment loss to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the assets.

Goodwill is reviewed at least annually for impairment. Impairment of goodwill is tested at the reporting unit level by comparing the reporting unit’s carrying amount, including goodwill, to the fair value of the reporting unit. The fair values of the reporting units are estimated using a combination of the income or discounted cash flows approach and the market approach, which utilizes comparable companies’ data. If the carrying amount of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value, goodwill is considered impaired and a second step is performed to measure the amount of impairment loss, if any. No impairments were recognized during the reporting periods.

Revenue recognition

The Company’s net revenues are derived primarily from final value fees calculated as a percentage of the final sales transaction value, from listing fees, from optional feature fees, and from payment services processing fees; and to a much lesser extent, from online advertising.

Revenues are recognized when evidence of an arrangement exists, the fee is fixed or determinable, no significant obligation remains and collection of the receivable is reasonably assured.

Revenues related to final value fees are recognized at the time that the transaction is successfully concluded. A transaction is considered successfully concluded when at least one buyer has bid above the seller’s specified minimum price or reserve price, whichever is higher, or at the seller’s specified fixed price at the end of the transaction term.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Revenues related to listing fees and optional feature fees are recognized ratably over the estimated period of the auction. Revenues resulting from a payment processing transaction are recognized once the transaction is completed.

Advertising revenues, which are principally derived from the sale of banners or sponsorship on the sites, are recognized as the impressions are delivered.

Stock-Based compensation

Prior to January 1, 2006, the Company accounted for its stock-based compensation using the intrinsic value method of accounting under the provisions of Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees (“APB No. 25”). The Company applied the disclosure provisions under Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 123, “Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation and related interpretations” (“SFAS No. 123”) as if fair value method had been applied in measuring compensation expense. As a result, stock-based compensation expense, based upon the fair value method, was included as a pro forma disclosure in the notes to the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

On January 1, 2006, the Company adopted the provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 123(R), “Share-Based Payment” (“SFAS No. 123(R)”), using the prospective transition method for new awards and to awards modified, repurchased, or cancelled after the required effective date. Under the prospective method, stock-based compensation expense for all stock-based compensation awards granted after January 1, 2006 is based on the grant date fair value estimated in accordance with the provisions of SFAS No. 123(R). The Company recognizes compensation expense for stock-based compensation awards on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award. See Note 11 for details.

Taxes on revenues

The Company subsidiaries in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia are subject to certain taxes on revenues which are classified as cost of revenues and totaled $2,925,624, $1,598,184 and $661,164 for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively.

Advertising costs

Advertising costs are expensed as incurred and totaled $13,788,791, $9,103,879 and $6,122,868 for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively.

Comprehensive income (loss)

Comprehensive income (loss) is comprised of two components, net income (loss) and other comprehensive income (loss), and defined as all other changes in equity of the Company that result from transactions other than with shareholders. Other comprehensive income (loss) includes the cumulative translation adjustment relating to the translation of the financial statements of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries and unrealized gains on investments classified as available-for-sale securities.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

The carrying value of mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock is increased by periodic accretions so that the carrying amount will equal the redemption amount at the redemption date. These increases are effected through charges against the Company’s additional-paid-in capital with effect on net income (loss) available to common shareholders and earnings per share.

Foreign currency translation

All of the Company’s foreign operations have determined the local currency to be their functional currency. Accordingly, these foreign subsidiaries translate assets and liabilities from their local currencies to U.S. dollars using year end exchange rates while income and expense accounts are translated at the average rates in effect during the year. The resulting translation adjustment is recorded as part of other comprehensive income (loss), a component of shareholders’ deficit. Gains and losses resulting from transactions denominated in non-functional currencies are recognized in earnings. Net foreign currency transaction (losses) gains are included in the consolidated statements of operations under the caption “Other income (expenses)” and amounted to $(391,981), $250,432 and $211,146 for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively.

Income taxes

The Company is subject to U.S. and foreign income taxes. The Company accounts for income taxes following the liability method of accounting which requires the recognition of deferred tax liabilities and assets for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the carrying amounts and the tax bases of assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets are also recognized for tax loss carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets or liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. A valuation allowance is recorded when, based on the available evidence, it is more likely than not that all or a portion of the Company’s deferred tax assets will not be realized. The Company’s income tax expense consists of taxes currently payable, if any, plus the change during the period in the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities.

Change in accounting principle

On June 29, 2005, the FASB issued Staff Position 150-5, Issuer’s Accounting under FASB Statement No. 150 (“SFAS 150”) for Freestanding Warrants and Other Similar Instruments on Shares That Are Redeemable (“FSP 150-5”). FSP 150-5 requires the Company to classify its outstanding preferred stock warrants as liabilities on its balance sheet and record adjustments to the value of its preferred stock warrants in its statements of operations to reflect their fair value at each reporting period. The Company adopted FSP 150-5 and accounted for the cumulative effect of the change in accounting principle as of July 1, 2005.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

For the year ended December 31, 2005, the impact of the change in accounting principle, net of tax, was to increase net income by $169,594, consisting of a $319,304 cumulative effect adjustment for the change in accounting principle as of July 1, 2005, when the Company adopted FSP 150-5, and $149,710 of expense that was recorded in “Other income (expense), net” to reflect the increase in fair value between July 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005.

For the year ended December 31, 2006, the Company recorded in “Other expenses, net” $825,095, of expense to reflect the increase in fair value between December 31, 2005 and December 31, 2006.

Recent accounting pronouncements

1. Accounting for certain hybrid financial instruments

In February 2006, the FASB issued SFAS No. 155, “Accounting for Certain Hybrid Financial Instruments, an amendment of FASB Statements No. 133 and 140”. This Statement permits fair value remeasurement for any hybrid financial instrument that contains an embedded derivative that otherwise would require bifurcation, clarifies which interest-only strips and principal-only strips are not subject to the requirements of SFAS No. 133, establishes a requirement to evaluate interests in securitized financial assets to identify interests that are freestanding derivatives or that are hybrid financial instruments that contain an embedded derivative requiring bifurcation and amends SFAS No. 140 to eliminate the prohibition on a qualifying special-purpose entity from holding a derivative financial instrument that pertains to a beneficial interest other than another derivative financial instrument. This Statement is effective for all financial instruments acquired or issued after the beginning of an entity’s first fiscal year that begins after September 15, 2006. The adoption of SFAS No. 155 will not have any material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

2. Accounting for servicing of financial assets

In March 2006, the FASB issued SFAS No. 156 “Accounting for Servicing of Financial Assets”, which amends FASB Statement No. 140, “Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities”, with respect to the accounting for separately recognized servicing assets and servicing liabilities. This Statement requires an entity to recognize a servicing asset or servicing liability each time it undertakes an obligation to service a financial asset by entering into a servicing contract in certain situations; requires all separately recognized servicing assets and servicing liabilities to be initially measured at fair value, if practicable; and permits an entity to choose between an Amortization method or a Fair value measurement method to measure each class of separately recognized servicing assets and servicing liabilities. This statement also requires separate presentation of servicing assets and servicing liabilities subsequently measured at fair value in the statement of financial position and additional disclosures for all separately recognized servicing assets and servicing liabilities. This Statement is effective for fiscal years that begin after September 15, 2006. The adoption of SFAS No. 156 will not have any material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

3. Accounting for uncertainty in income taxes

In June 2006, the FASB issued the Interpretation No. 48, “Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes—an interpretation of FASB Statement No. 109” (“FIN 48”). FIN 48 addresses the recognition and measurement of uncertain income tax position using a “more-likely-than-not” threshold and introduces new disclosures requirements. The evaluation of a tax position in accordance with FIN 48 is a two-step process: a) determines whether it is more-likely-than-not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes, based on the technical merits of the position; and b) a tax position that meets the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold is measured to determine the amount of benefit to recognize in the financial statements. Previously recognized tax positions that no longer meet the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold should be derecognized in the first subsequent financial reporting period in which that threshold is no longer met. FIN 48 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2006. The Company is currently analyzing the impact that the adoption of FIN 48 will have on the Company’s financial position and results of operations.

4. Fair value measurements

In September 2006, the FASB issued SFAS No. 157, “Fair Value Measurements” (“SFAS 157”). The changes to current practice resulting from the application of SFAS 157 relate to the definition of fair value, the methods used to estimate fair value, and the requirement for expanded disclosures about estimates of fair value. The definition of fair value retains the exchange price notion in earlier definitions of fair value. SFAS 157 clarifies that the exchange price is the price in an orderly transaction between market participants to sell the asset or transfer the liability in the market in which the reporting entity would transact for the asset or liability. SFAS 157 is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007. The adoption of SFAS 157 will not have a significant impact on the Company’s financial position and results of operations.

5. Fair value for financial assets and liabilities

In February 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 159, “The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities—Including an amendment of FASB Statement No. 115”. This Statement permits entities to choose to measure many financial instruments and certain other items at fair value. The objective is to improve financial reporting by providing entities with the opportunity to mitigate volatility in reported earnings caused by measuring related assets and liabilities differently without having to apply complex hedge accounting provisions. This Statement is expected to expand the use of fair value measurement, which is consistent with the Board’s long-term measurement objectives for accounting for financial instruments. The adoption of SFAS No. 159 will not have any material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

3. Net income / (loss) per share

Basic earnings (losses) per share for the Company’s common stock is computed by dividing net income / (loss) available to common shareholders attributable to common stock for the period by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Net income / (loss) available to common shareholders is computed by deducting from net income (or by increasing net loss) accretion of preferred stock.

The Company’s mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock is a participating security. Accordingly, net income for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005 was allocated between common stock and preferred stock under the “two class method” for purposes of computing basic earnings per share.

Diluted earnings per share for the Company’s common stock assume the exercise of outstanding stock options under the Company’s stock based employee compensation plans. For diluted earnings per common share, net income was also allocated between common stock and preferred stock under the “two class method” because assuming that mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock is fully converted into common stock would result in the same dilutive effect.

The following table shows how net income / (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle is allocated using the two-class method for earnings per common share:

 

       Year ended December 31,  
     2006     2005     2004  
     Basic and
Diluted
    Basic     Diluted     Basic and
Diluted
 
   

Net income / (loss)

   $ 1,072,083     $ 2,354,136     $ 2,354,136     $ (2,206,018 )

Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

           (319,304 )     (319,304 )      
                                

Net income / (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle

   $ 1,072,083     $ 2,034,832     $ 2,034,832     $ (2,206,018 )
                                

Accretion of preferred stock

     (494,878 )     (494,878 )     (494,878 )     (494,878 )
                                

Net income / (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle available to common shareholders

   $ 577,205     $ 1,539,954     $ 1,539,954     $ (2,700,896 )
                                

Net income / (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle available to common shareholders attributable to preferred stock

     (389,047 )     (1,040,113 )     (1,024,690 )      
                                

Net income / (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle available to common shareholders attributable to common stock

   $ 188,158     $ 499,841     $ 515,264     $ (2,700,896 )
                                
   

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

The following table shows how net income / (loss) is allocated using the two-class method for earnings per common share:

 

       Year ended December 31,  
     2006     2005     2004  
     Basic and
Diluted
    Basic     Diluted     Basic and
Diluted
 
   

Net income / (loss)

   $ 1,072,083     $ 2,354,136     $ 2,354,136     $ (2,206,018 )

Accretion of preferred stock

     (494,878 )     (494,878 )     (494,878 )     (494,878 )
                                

Net income (loss) available to common shareholders

   $ 577,205     $ 1,859,258     $ 1,859,258     $ (2,700,896 )
                                

Net income (loss) available to common shareholders attributable to preferred stock

     (389,047 )     (1,255,777 )     (1,237,156 )      
                                

Net income (loss) available to common shareholders attributable to common stock

   $ 188,158     $ 603,481     $ 622,102     $ (2,700,896 )
                                
   

Net income (loss) per share of common stock is as follows for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004:

 

       Year ended December 31,  
     2006    2005    2004  
     Basic and
Diluted
   Basic    Diluted    Basic and
Diluted
 
                               

Net income /(loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle available to common shareholders per common share

   $ 0.01    $ 0.04    $ 0.04    $ (0.21 )

Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle per common share

          0.01      0.01       
                             

Net income /(loss) available to common shareholders per common share

   $ 0.01    $ 0.05    $ 0.05    $ (0.21 )
                             

Numerator:

           

Net income /(loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle available to common shareholders

   $ 188,158    $ 499,841    $ 515,264    $ (2,700,896 )
                             

Net income / (loss) available to common shareholders

   $ 188,158    $ 603,481    $ 622,102    $ (2,700,896 )
                             

Denominator:

           

Weighted average of common stock outstanding for Basic earnings per share

     13,149,139      13,065,496      13,065,496      12,739,980  

Adjustment for Stock Options

               605,863       
                             

Adjusted weighted average of common stock outstanding for Diluted earnings per share

     13,149,139      13,065,496      13,671,359      12,739,980  
                             
   

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

The calculation of diluted net income (loss) per share excludes all anti-dilutive shares. For the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, the numbers of anti-dilutive shares are as follows:

 

       2006    2005    2004
                

Anti-dilutive shares

        

Warrants

   184,272    184,272    184,272

Options

   652,457       1,061,302
              
   836,729    184,272    1,245,574
              
 

4. Short-term investments

The composition of short-term investments is as follows:

 

       December 31,
     2006    2005
               

Short-term investments

     

Bond Mutual Funds

   $ 1,328,774    $ 3,411,266

Treasury Bills

     794,510     

Time Deposits

     4,197,372     
             

Total

   $ 6,320,656    $ 3,411,266

The Company has classified its investments in bond mutual funds as available-for-sale securities.

Available-for-sale securities are stated at market value, with unrealized gains and losses reflected, net of tax, as other comprehensive income in shareholders’ deficit. Realized gains and losses are included in earnings and are derived using the specific identification method for determining the cost of securities.

Unrealized gains of available-for-sale securities, net of tax, were $102,330, $75,044 and $46,195 for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively. These investments do not have a maturity date.

Treasury bills and time deposits are considered held-to-maturity securities. Gains on sale of held to maturity securities were $46,926, $nil and $nil for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004. The held-to-maturity securities mature on several dates between January 2007 to December 2007.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

5. Balance sheet components

 

       December 31,  
     2006     2005  
   

Accounts receivable, net:

    

Users

   $ 5,407,150     $ 4,805,177  

Credit cards and other means of payments

     835,449       406,262  

Advertising

     123,410       11,283  

Others debtors

     45,265       3,062  
                
     6,411,274       5,225,784  

Allowance for doubtful accounts

     (4,428,271 )     (2,839,706 )
                
   $ 1,983,003     $ 2,386,078  
   

 

       December 31,  
     2006     2005  
   

Funds receivable from customers

    

Credit cards and other means of payments

   $ 10,379,947     $ 4,198,547  

Allowance for chargebacks

     (191,235 )     (36,061 )
                
   $ 10,188,712     $ 4,162,486  
   

 

       December 31,
     2006    2005
 

Other current assets:

     

VAT credits

   $ 148,267    $ 229,057

Other taxes

     49,396      109,883

Employee loan

     9,228     

Other

     39,461      74,795
             
   $ 246,352    $ 413,735
 

 

       Estimated
useful life
(years)
   December 31,  
        2006     2005  
   

Property and equipment, net:

       

Equipment

   3-5    $ 5,993,354     $ 4,460,401  

Furniture and fixtures

   3-5      823,436       566,640  

Software

   3      1,183,418       823,807  
                   
        8,000,208       5,850,848  

Accumulated depreciation

        (5,068,738 )     (3,507,225 )
                   
      $ 2,931,470     $ 2,343,623  
   

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

       For the years ended December 31,
     2006    2005    2004
 

Depreciation and amortization:

        

Cost of revenues

   $ 37,760    $ 23,330    $ 16,514

Product and technology development

     1,649,865      1,366,669      869,499

Sales and marketing

     14,525      12,072      8,480

General and administrative

     314,789      170,426      189,990
                    
   $ 2,016,939    $ 1,572,497    $ 1,084,483
 

 

       December 31,
     2006    2005
 

Accounts payable and accrued expenses:

     

Accounts payable

   $ 2,487,121    $ 726,800

Accrued expenses

     

Advertising

     2,191,902      968,320

Professional fees

     511,199      486,214

Other expenses provision

     506,344      479,874

Other current liabilities

     12,116     
             
   $ 5,708,682    $ 2,661,208
 

 

       December 31,  
     2006     2005  
   

Accumulated other comprehensive income / (loss):

    

Foreign currency translation

   $ 289,200     $ (853,642 )

Unrealized gains on investments

     282,934       363,289  

Estimated tax loss on above items

     (71,598 )     (70,189 )
                
   $ 500,536     $ (560,542 )
   

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

6. Business combinations, goodwill and intangible assets

Business combinations

The following table summarizes the acquisitions consummated by the Company during the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004 (in thousands):

 

Company Name   Country   Year
Acquired
  Post
Acquisition
Ownership
  Net Tangible
Assets /
(Liabilities)
    Identificable
Intangible
Assets
  Goodwill   Aggregate
Purchase
Price
 

eBazar.com.br Ltda. / Arremate.com

  Brazil   2005   100%   (194.7 )   96.3   1,857.8   1,759.4

DeRemate.com de Venezuela S.A., Colombia Branch

  Colombia   2005   100%   114.1     40.5   1,986.8   2,141.4

DeRemate.com de México S.A. de C.V.

  Mexico   2005   100%   (16.4 )   92.3   4,925.8   5,001.7

DeRemate.com del Peru S.A.

  Peru   2005   100%   38.7     22.4   929.6   990.7

DeRemate.com de Uruguay S.A.

  Uruguay   2005   100%   (10.8 )   9.3   229.5   228.0

DeRemate.com de Venezuela S.A.

  Venezuela   2005   100%   (45.2 )   39.7   2,194.5   2,189.0
 

Tangible net assets were valued at their respective carrying amounts as the management of the Company believes that these amounts approximated their current fair values at the respective acquisition dates. The valuation of identifiable intangible assets acquired reflects management’s estimates based on, among other factors, use of established valuation methods. Such assets consist of customer lists and user base, trademarks and trade names. Identifiable intangible assets are amortized over the period of estimated benefit using the straight-line method and the estimated useful lives of two to five years. Management believes the straight-line method of amortization represents the best estimate of distribution of the economic value of identifiable intangible assets. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired in each business combination.

The following table summarizes the Company’s acquired intangible assets by type related to the above purchase acquisitions (in thousands):

 

Company Name    Country    Year
Acquired
   Customer
List /
User Base
 

eBazar.com.br Ltda. / Arremate.com

   Brazil    2005    96.3

DeRemate.com de Venezuela S.A., Colombia Branch

   Colombia    2005    40.5

DeRemate.com de México S.A. de C.V.

   Mexico    2005    92.3

DeRemate.com del Peru S.A.

   Peru    2005    22.4

DeRemate.com de Uruguay S.A.

   Uruguay    2005    9.3

DeRemate.com de Venezuela S.A.

   Venezuela    2005    39.7
 

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

The results of operations for periods prior to the acquisition for each acquisition, both individually and in the aggregate, were not material to the consolidated statement of operations of the Company and, accordingly, pro forma results of operations have not been presented.

DeRemate

On November 10, 2005, the Company acquired certain operations of its main competitor in online trading, DeRemate.com Inc., including all of its operations in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, and the majority of shares of its subsidiaries (except for its Argentine and Chilean subsidiaries), for an aggregate purchase price of $12,310,194. The technology and business of DeRemate were integrated into MercadoLibre, and therefore the acquisition increased the Company’s users base and solidified its market leadership position in Latin America. The acquisition was financed with a loan from eBay, one of the Company’s largest shareholders.

Goodwill and intangible assets

The composition of goodwill and intangible assets is as follows:

 

       2006     2005  
                  

Indefinite lived assets

    

—Goodwill

   $ 20,572,792     $ 19,657,797  

Amortizable intangible assets

    

—Trademarks & Licenses

     1,333,321       1,004,722  

—Non-compete agreement

     605,706       553,253  

—Customer list

     524,172       495,701  
                

Total intangible assets

   $ 23,035,991     $ 21,711,473  

Accumulated amortization

     (1,693,676 )     (1,147,294 )
                
     $ 21,342,315     $ 20,564,179  

Goodwill

The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005, are as follows:

 

       Year Ended December 31, 2006
     Marketplaces
     Brazil    Mexico     Other Countries    Total
                              

Balance, beginning of year

   $ 9,346,899    $ 4,987,323     $ 5,323,575    $ 19,657,797

—Effect of exchange rates changes

     886,163      (75,483 )     104,315      914,995
                            

Balance, end of year

   $ 10,233,062    $ 4,911,840     $ 5,427,890    $ 20,572,792
                            
 

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

       Year Ended December 31, 2005
     Marketplaces
     Brazil    Mexico    Other Countries     Total
                              

Balance, beginning of year

   $ 6,664,474    $    $     $ 6,664,474

—Goodwill acquired during year

     1,857,830      4,925,790      5,340,380       12,124,000

—Effect of exchange rates changes

     824,595      61,533      (16,805 )     869,323
                            

Balance, end of year

   $ 9,346,899    $ 4,987,323    $ 5,323,575     $ 19,657,797
                            
 

Amortizable intangibles assets

Amortizable intangible assets are comprised of customer lists and user base, trademarks and trade names, acquired software licenses and other acquired intangible assets including a non-compete agreement and developed technologies. Aggregate amortization expense for intangible assets totaled $482,344, $418,262 and $223,325 for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively.

Expected future intangible asset amortization from acquisitions completed as of December 31, 2006 is as follows:

 

For year ended 12/31/2007

   $  430,453

For year ended 12/31/2008

     263,038

For year ended 12/31/2009

     76,032

Thereafter

    
      
     $ 769,523

7. Segments

Reporting segments are based upon our internal organization structure, the manner in which our operations are managed, the criteria used by our chief operating decision-maker to evaluate segment performance, the availability of separate financial information, and overall materiality considerations.

The Marketplace segments include Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Other countries (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) online marketplaces commerce platforms. The Payments segment includes our regional payments platform consisting of our business of MercadoPago.

Direct contribution consists of revenues less direct costs. Direct costs include specific costs of net revenues, sales and marketing expenses, and general and administrative expenses over which segment managers have direct discretionary control, such as advertising and marketing programs, customer support expenses, bank charges, allowances for doubtful accounts, authorized credits and transaction losses.

Expenses over which segment managers do not currently have discretionary control, such as certain technology and general and administrative costs, are monitored by management through shared cost centers and are not evaluated in the measurement of segment performance.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

The following tables summarize the financial performance of our reporting segments:

 

      Year Ended December 31, 2006  
    Marketplaces        
    Brazil     Argentina     Mexico     Other Countries     Total     Payments     Consolidated  
   

Net revenues

  $ 25,571,405     $ 7,027,681     $ 6,199,110     $ 5,930,873     $ 44,729,069     $ 7,329,821     $ 52,058,890  

Direct costs

    (18,193,271 )     (4,553,777 )     (5,040,322 )     (4,448,878 )     (32,236,248 )     (6,561,532 )     (38,797,780 )
                                                       

Direct contribution

    7,378,134       2,473,904       1,158,788       1,481,995       12,492,821       768,289       13,261,110  

Operating expenses and indirect costs of net revenues

                (7,863,181 )
                   

Income from operations

                5,397,929  
                   

Other income (expenses):

             

Interest income

                520,508  

Interest expense and other financial results

                (1,743,315 )

Foreign exchange

                (391,981 )

Other expenses, net

                (1,468,220 )
                   

Net income before income / asset tax and cumulative effect of change in acounting principle

              $ 2,314,921  
                   
   

 

      Year Ended December 31, 2005  
    Marketplaces        
    Brazil     Argentina     Mexico     Other Countries     Total     Payments     Consolidated  
   

Net revenues

  $ 15,339,446     $ 4,693,963     $ 2,782,817     $ 2,259,263     $ 25,075,489     $ 3,174,188     $ 28,249,677  

Direct costs

    (11,166,008 )     (3,063,498 )     (3,111,235 )     (2,337,581 )     (19,678,322 )     (2,883,520 )     (22,561,842 )
                                                       

Direct contribution

    4,173,438       1,630,465       (328,418 )     (78,318 )     5,397,167       290,668       5,687,835  

Operating expenses and indirect costs of net revenues

                (4,875,973 )
                   

Income from operations

                811,862  
                   

Other income (expenses):

             

Interest income

                351,779  

Interest expense and other financial results

                (456,430 )

Foreign exchange

                250,432  

Other expenses, net

                (292,173 )
                   

Net income before income / asset tax and cumulative effect of change in acounting principle

              $ 665,470  
                   
   

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

      Year Ended December 31, 2004  
    Marketplaces        
    Brazil     Argentina     Mexico     Other Countries     Total     Payments     Consolidated  
   

Net revenues

  $ 7,307,897     $ 2,702,099     $ 1,065,322     $ 1,055,224     $ 12,130,542     $ 532,790     $ 12,663,332  

Direct costs

    (6,267,703 )     (2,034,479 )     (2,017,141 )     (1,453,054 )     (11,772,377 )     (440,309 )     (12,212,686 )
                                                       

Direct contribution

    1,040,194       667,620       (951,819 )     (397,830 )     358,165       92,481       450,646  

Operating expenses and indirect costs of net revenues

                (3,800,059 )
                   

Loss from operations

                (3,349,413 )
                   

Other income (expenses):

             

Interest income

                1,245,793  

Interest expense and other financial results

                (329,279 )

Foreign exchange

                211,146  

Other expenses, net

                (19,876 )
                   

Net loss before income / asset tax and cumulative effect of change in acounting principle

              $ (2,241,629 )
                   
   

The following table summarizes the allocation of the long-lived tangible assets based on geography:

 

       Year ended December 31,
     2006    2005
 

US long-lived tangible assets

   $ 1,578,122    $ 1,394,764

Other countries long-lived tangible assets

     

Argentina

     827,438      630,764

Brazil

     459,978      260,204

Mexico

     43,542      36,712

Other countries

     22,390      21,179
             
   $ 1,353,348    $ 948,859
             

Total long-lived tangible assets

   $ 2,931,470    $ 2,343,623
             
 

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

The following table summarizes the allocation of the goodwill and intangible assets based on geography:

 

       Year ended December 31,
     2006    2005
 

US intangible assets

   $ 121,602    $ 35,742

Other countries goodwill and intangible assets

     

Argentina

     379,785      440,284

Brazil

     10,341,961      9,575,405

Mexico

     4,982,529      5,077,690

Rest

     5,516,438      5,435,058
             
   $ 21,220,713    $ 20,528,437
             

Total goodwill and intangible assets

   $ 21,342,315    $ 20,564,179
             
 

The following table summarizes the allocation of net revenues based on geography:

 

       Year ended December 31,
     2006    2005    2004
 

Brazil

   $ 30,776,669    $ 17,493,557    $ 7,648,775

Argentina

     7,836,707      5,152,129      2,840,185

Mexico

     7,169,955      3,263,715      1,119,148

Other countries

     6,275,559      2,340,276      1,055,224
                    

Total net revenues

   $ 52,058,890    $ 28,249,677    $ 12,663,332
                    
 

8. Common stock

Authorized, issued and outstanding shares

At December 31, 2006, as stated in the Company’s Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Amended Certificate of Incorporation”), the Company has authorized the following classes of common stock (collectively the “Common Stock”):

 

Class of Common Stock    Number of
shares
      

Class A

   65,000,000

Class B-1

   6,400,000

Class B-2

   6,400,000

Class C

   8,600,000

Class D-1

   3,000,000

Class D-2

   3,000,000

Class E-1

   8,200,000

Class E-2

   8,200,000
    

Total number of shares

   108,800,000

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

As of December 31, 2006 and 2005, there were 13,166,982 and 13,095,863 shares of Class A Common Stock issued and outstanding with a par value of $0.01 per share.

Voting rights

The holders of Class A, Class C and Class E-1 Common Stock are entitled to one vote per share. The holders of Class B-1 and Class D-1 Common Stock will be entitled to vote the number of shares equal to the ratio of the total number of shares of all Class B and Class D Common Stock, respectively, to the total number of shares of Class B-1 and Class D-1 Common Stock, respectively. The holders of Class B-2, D-2 and E-2 Common Stock do not have voting rights, except with regards to a merger or consolidation of the Company.

The Board of Directors is comprised of 7 members. Holders of all classes of voting common stock can elect three members of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), with the exception of one director who is subject to the collective approval of the holders of Series A and Series B-1 Preferred Stock. Holders of Series A, Series B and Series C Preferred Stock have the right to elect one, two and one member(s), respectively, to the Board (see Note 9).

Conversion rights

Class B-1, D-1 and E-1 Common Stock, held by a Regulated Stockholder, as defined in the Company’s Amended Certificate of Incorporation, can be converted into Class B-2, D-2 and E-2 Common Stock at any time at a conversion rate of one to one. Class B-2, D-2 and E-2 Common Stock held by any shareholder can be converted into Class B-1, D-1 and E-1 Common Stock at any time at a conversion rate of one to one. Class C, B-1, D-1 and E-1 Common Stock can be converted to Class A Common Stock at any time at a conversion rate of one to one.

Conversion of the Class A Common Stock into any other class of common or preferred stock is not permitted per the Company’s Amended Certificate of Incorporation.

At December 31, 2006, there were 24,600,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, and all shares of Class B, C, D and E Common Stock, reserved for issuance in connection with the conversion of the various classes of Common Stock, the various series of preferred stock and for the exercise of stock options.

9. Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock

Since its inception, the Company has repeatedly amended its Certificate of Incorporation in order to authorize the issuance of Series A, Series B-1, Series B-2, Series C, Series D-1, Series D-2, Series E-1 and Series E-2 mandatory redeemable convertible preferred stock (the “Preferred Stock”).

In November 1999, the Company issued 7,600,000 shares of Series A and B mandatory redeemable convertible preferred stock to certain investors for $7,600,000, or $1 per share.

On May 5, 2000, the Company issued 11,461,776 shares of Series C and D mandatory redeemable convertible preferred stock to existing and new preferred shareholders for $46,650,000, or $4.07 per share. Of these shares, 1,228,486 were issued in connection with the conversion of promissory notes issued in March 2000.

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

In September 2001, pursuant to a Securities Purchase Agreement with eBay Inc., the Company issued 8,126,062 shares of Series E mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock in exchange for a 100% equity interest in iBazar Brazil. The Company recorded the issuance of Series E preferred stock at its estimated fair market value amounting to $7,246,589, less issuance costs totaling $235,933.

The Preferred Stock has rights and preferences concerning dividends, redemption, conversion, liquidation and voting as follows:

Dividends

Holders of Preferred Stock are entitled to participate in dividends declared on the common stock on a ratable basis based upon the common stock equivalents represented by the shares of Preferred Stock held by the preferred holders (i.e. the number of common shares in which the preferred shares can be converted into). As of December 31, 2006, no dividends have been declared or paid by the Company.

Redemption

Two or more Series A and B preferred stockholders and two or more Series C, D and E preferred stockholders holding in excess of 50% of the Preferred Stock outstanding have the right, subject to certain regulatory restrictions, to require the Company to redeem all of the then outstanding Preferred Stock at any time on or after December 31, 2007 at a price per share equal to the 105% of the amount originally paid for such share when was originally issued.

Conversion

Each share of Preferred Stock is convertible at any time into the same corresponding class of Common Stock at an initial conversion price of $1 per share for Series A and B Preferred Stock, $4.07 for Series C and D Preferred Stock and $0.92 for Series E Preferred Stock. The conversion price shall be adjusted upon the issuance of common stock or common stock equivalents without consideration or for a consideration per share less than the conversion price, as described in the Company’s Amended Certificate of Incorporation.

Series B-1, D-1 and E-1 Preferred Stock, held by a Regulated Stockholder, as defined in the Company’s Amended Certificate of Incorporation, can be converted into Series B-2, D-2 and E-2 Preferred Stock, respectively, at any time upon demand of the holder of the stock at a conversion rate of one to one. Series B-2 and D-2 Preferred Stock can be converted into Series B-1 and D-1 Preferred Stock, respectively, at any time upon demand of the holder of the stock at a conversion rate of one to one. Series E-2 Preferred Stock can be converted into Series E-1 Preferred Stock at a conversion rate of one to one at any time after the Company achieves three consecutive quarters of net income of at least $0.1 million.

In the event of a Qualified Public Offering, as defined in the Company’s Amended Certificate of Incorporation, all shares of Preferred Stock will be converted to the same class of Common Stock. The rate of conversion will be the same that would be applied in the event of an optional conversion.

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Liquidation

In the event of liquidation, as defined in the Company’s Amended Certificate of Incorporation, the Series C, D and E preferred shareholders rank senior to any other preferred stock and any common stock. Holders of Series C and D preferred stock are entitled to received an amount equal to $4.28 per share plus any accrued but unpaid dividends, while holders of Series E preferred stock are entitled to received an amount equal to $2.88 per share plus any accrued but unpaid dividends. If the assets of the corporation available to pay the above mentioned liquidation preference are less than the liquidation amount to be paid, then such assets should be distributed as follows: 52.08% to the holders of Series C Preferred Stock, 18.03% to the holders of Series D Preferred Stock and 29.89% to the holders of Series E Preferred Stock.

The Series A and B preferred shareholders rank senior to any common stock and are entitled to received, after payment to Series C, D and E preferred shareholders, an amount equal to $0.77 per share plus any accrued but unpaid dividends. If the assets of the corporation available to pay the above mentioned liquidation preference are less than the liquidation amount to be paid, then such assets should be distributed as follows: 21.05% to the holders of Series A Preferred Stock and 78.95% to the holders of Series B Preferred Stock.

After payment of the debts and liabilities of the Company and the preferences on the outstanding preferred stock, holders of the common stock and preferred stock will share ratably in the remaining net assets of the Company based on total common stock and common stock equivalents outstanding.

Voting

Holders of the Series A, B-1, C, D-1 and E-1 Preferred Stock are entitled to vote on all matters submitted for a vote to the Company’s common stockholders. Holders of Series A, C and E-1 Preferred Stock are entitled to one vote per share. Holders of the Series B-1 and D-1 Preferred Stock are entitled to the same number of votes they would have if the shares had been converted to Class B-1 and D-1 Common Stock, respectively. Series B-2, D-2 and E-2 Preferred Stock do not have voting rights, except with regards to a merger or consolidation of the Company. See Note 8 for details of the common stock voting rights.

 

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Table of Contents

Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

The following table presents a summary of the Company’s Preferred Stock activity during the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004:

 

      Series      
    A   B-1   B-2   C   D-1   D-2   E-1   E-2   Total
 

Balances at December 31, 2003

  $ 1,642,400   $ 1,902,387   $ 4,256,610   $ 35,325,501   $ 1,832,732   $ 10,401,213   $ 6,214,684   $ 1,016,384   $ 62,591,911
                                                     

Accretion

    9,400     10,888     24,363     264,250     13,710     77,805     81,185     13,277     494,878
                                                     

Balances at December 31, 2004

  $ 1,651,800   $ 1,913,275   $ 4,280,973   $ 35,589,751   $ 1,846,442   $ 10,479,018   $ 6,295,869   $ 1,029,661   $ 63,086,789
                                                     

Accretion

    9,400     10,888     24,363     264,250     13,710     77,805     81,185     13,277     494,878
                                                     

Balances at December 31, 2005

  $ 1,661,200   $ 1,924,163   $ 4,305,336   $ 35,854,001   $ 1,860,152   $ 10,556,823   $ 6,377,054   $ 1,042,938   $ 63,581,667
                                                     

Accretion

    9,400     10,888     24,363     264,250     13,710     77,805     81,185     13,277     494,878
                                                     

Balances at December 31, 2006

  $ 1,670,600   $ 1,935,051   $ 4,329,699   $ 36,118,251   $ 1,873,862   $ 10,634,628   $ 6,458,239   $ 1,056,215   $ 64,076,545
                                                     

At December 31, 2006:

                 

Number of shares outstanding

    1,600,000     1,853,275     4,146,725     8,513,408     441,687     2,506,681     6,983,878     1,142,184     27,187,838
                                                     

Number of shares authorized

    1,800,000     6,400,000     6,400,000     8,600,000     3,000,000     3,000,000     8,200,000     8,200,000     45,600,000
                                                     

Redemption amount

  $ 1,680,000   $ 1,945,939   $ 4,354,061   $ 36,382,652   $ 1,887,549   $ 10,712,301   $ 6,539,424   $ 1,069,495   $ 64,571,421
                                                     

Minimum liquidation amount

  $ 1,233,961   $ 1,429,294   $ 3,198,062   $ 36,439,983   $ 1,890,554   $ 10,729,356   $ 20,122,071   $ 3,290,880   $ 78,334,161
                                                     
 

The Common and Preferred Stock contain certain covenants, which, among other things, restrict capital expenditures, issuance of additional shares, payment of dividends, transactions with related parties, and certain investments, without the previous authorization of the preferred shareholders.

At December 31, 2006, 17,074,430 shares of the Series B, D and E Preferred Stock were reserved for issuance in connection with the conversion of the various series of Preferred Stock.

10. Warrants

In connection with the promissory notes issued in March 2000, the Company issued warrants to purchase a number of shares of new classes of preferred stock. The warrants had an exercise price equal to the fair market value of the new series of preferred stock. The warrants holders had the option of exercising the warrants with either cash or, if the fair market value of the shares at the date of exercise exceeds the warrants exercise price, in stock through a net settlement.

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

In March 2005, the shareholders approved a 5 year extension of the exercise period of Warrants issued on March 17, 2000, from March 17, 2005 to March 17, 2010. No charge was recorded during 2005 related to the extension of the warrants because there is no material difference between the fair value of the warrants before and after this modification.

As discussed in note 2, as a result of the adoption of FSP 150-5, as from July 1, 2005 the Company classified its outstanding warrants as liabilities in its balance sheet recognizing in its statement of operations the changes in its fair value at each reporting period.

At December 31, 2006, the warrants to purchase 184,272 shares of Series C and D preferred stock for a total consideration of $750,000 have not been exercised.

11. Stock option plan

In October 1999, the Company adopted the 1999 Stock Option Plan (the “Plan”). At December 31, 2006, the Company has reserved 4,732,400 shares of Class A Common Stock for issuance under the Plan. Awards granted under the Plan are at the discretion of the Company’s Board of Directors and may be in the form of either incentive or nonqualified stock options. Options granted under the Plan generally vest over a three to four year period and expire ten years after the date of grant. At December 31, 2006, there are 295,687 shares of Class A Common stock available for additional awards under the Plan.

Up to December 31, 2005, when options were granted to employees, a non-cash charge representing the difference between the exercise price and the fair market value of the common stock underlying the options on the date of grant was recorded as reduction of shareholders’ equity and amortized over the vesting period. For the years ended December 31, 2005 and 2004, the Company recognized unearned stock-based compensation of $nil, and amortized $nil and $17,350, respectively, as stock-based compensation.

The following table illustrates the effect on net income (loss) available to common shareholders if the company had applied the fair value method to stock-based employee compensation:

 

       Year ended December 31,  
     2005    2004  
   

Net income (loss) available to common shareholders

   $ 1,859,258    $ (2,700,896 )

Plus:

     

Stock-based employee compensation determined under the intrinsic value method

          17,350  

Minus:

     

Stock-based employee compensation determined under the fair value method

          (17,454 )
               

Proforma net income (loss) available to common shareholders

   $ 1,859,258    $ (2,701,000 )
   

Pro forma basic and diluted earnings per share as if the fair-value-based method had been applied to all awards are not materially different to the basic and diluted earnings per share presented in the consolidated statements of operations.

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

The proforma amounts may not be representative of the effect on proforma net loss in future years, since the estimated fair value of stock options is amortized over the vesting period and additional options may be granted in future years.

The weighted-average estimated fair value of options granted (above fair value of stock) during the year ended December 31, 2005 and 2004 was $nil. The fair value of each stock option was estimated on the date of grant using the minimum value method assuming no dividend yield, risk free interest rate of approximately 6% in 2005 and weighted average expected option terms of six years.

The following table summarizes stock option activity under the Plan for the years ended December 31, 2005 and 2004:

 

       2005    2004
     Number of
options
    Weighted-
average
exercise
price
   Number of
options
    Weighted-
average
exercise price
 

Outstanding, beginning of year

   791,076     $ 0.22    1,618,588     $ 0.11

Granted above fair value of stock

   5,000       1.50    96,700       0.49

Forfeited or expired

   (6,500 )     0.01    (6,475 )     0.16

Lapsed

   (18,100 )     0.83    (182,600 )     0.12

Exercised

   (82,654 )     0.11    (735,137 )     0.03
                         

Outstanding, end of year

   688,822       0.22    791,076       0.22
                         

Exercisable, end of year

   619,182     $ 0.19    632,730     $ 0.19
 

The following table summarizes information about stock options outstanding and exercisable at December 31, 2005:

 

       Outstanding    Exercisable
Exercise
price
   Number of
options
   Weighted-average
remaining
contractual
life (year)
   Number of
options
 

$0.01

   547,509    0.24    503,807

$0.75

   65,000       65,000

$1.00

   41,000       41,000

$1.50

   31,313    2.93    5,375

$3.00

   4,000       4,000
              
   688,822    0.32    619,182
 

 

Weighted average Exercise Price

      

—Options outstanding

   $ 0.22

—Options exercisable

   $ 0.19
 

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

On January 1, 2006, the Company adopted the provisions of SFAS No. 123(R) requiring the recognition of compensation expense based upon the grant date fair value of its stock-based compensation awards.

Stock-based compensation expense related to stock options and employee stock purchases for 2006 was allocated as follows:

 

Product and technology development

   $ 8,935

Sales and marketing

     19,924

General and administrative

     4,364
      

Total

   $ 33,223
      
 

The effect of adopting SFAS No. 123(R) per basic and per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2006, is not material.

In accordance with SFAS No. 123(R), the Company uses the Black-Scholes option pricing model to measure the fair value of its option awards granted after January 1, 2006. The Black-Scholes model requires the input of highly subjective assumptions including volatility, expected term, risk-free interest rate and dividend yield. In 2005, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 107 (“SAB No. 107”) which provides supplemental implementation guidance for SFAS No. 123(R). Since the Company has no history of volatility, the expected volatility is based on the historical volatilities of similar entities’ common stock over the most recent period commensurate with the estimated expected term of the awards. The expected term of an award is based on the “simplified” method allowed by SAB No. 107, whereby the expected term is equal to the midpoint between the vesting date and the end of the contractual term of the award. The risk-free interest rate is based on the rate on U.S. Treasury zero coupon issues with maturities consistent with the estimated expected term of the awards. The Company has not paid dividends and does not anticipate paying a dividend in the foreseeable future and accordingly, uses an expected dividend yield of zero.

The following weighted-average assumptions were used in estimating the fair value of options for the year ended December 31, 2006:

 

 

Stock price volatility: 36%

 

Expected term: 7 years

 

Risk-free interest rate: 6%

The weighted-average grant date fair value of options granted during the year ended December 31, 2006 was $4.68.

Stock-based compensation expense recognized is based on the estimated portion of the awards that are expected to vest. The Company also estimated expected forfeitures of stock options upon adoption of SFAS 123(R). In developing a forfeiture rate estimate, Management considered its historical experience and expectations. Actual forfeiture activity may differ from the estimated forfeiture rate.

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Stock option activity is as follows:

 

       2006
     Number of
options
    Weighted-
average
exercise price
 

Outstanding, beginning of year

   688,822     $ 0.22

Granted below fair value of stock

   17,000       1.50

Granted above fair value of stock

   6,500       6.00

Forfeited or expired

   (7,372 )     0.41

Lapsed

   (500 )     0.01

Exercised

   (71,119 )     0.10
            

Outstanding, end of year

   633,331       0.33
            

Exercisable, end of year

   576,550     $ 0.21
            
 

The following details the outstanding options at December 31, 2006:

 

       Outstanding    Exercisable
Exercise
price
  

Number of

options

  

Weighted-average
remaining

contractual

life (years)

  

Number of

options

 

$0.01

   476,824    0.12    458,418

$0.75

   65,000       65,000

$1.00

   35,000       35,000

$1.50

   46,007    2.22    14,132

$3.00

   4,000       4,000

$6.00

   6,500    3.67   
              
   633,331    0.29    576,550
 

 

Weighted average Exercise Price

      

—Options outstanding

   $ 0.33

—Options exercisable

   $ 0.21
        

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

12. Management incentive bonus plan

In September 2001, the Company implemented the 2001 Management Incentive Bonus Plan (the “Incentive Plan”) to provide incentives to, and align the interests of, senior management with the Company’s shareholders. As established in the Incentive Plan, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, with the consent of the Board, made the initial determination as to the executives entitled to the benefits under the plan (the “Participants”) and the amounts of participation (the “Participation Percentages”). The Board of Directors administers the Incentive Plan.

Pursuant to the Incentive Plan, if the Company is sold, the Participants are entitled to receive a “sale bonus” and a “stay bonus” as follows:

 

 

If the purchase price is equal or greater than $20,000,000, then Participants shall be entitled to receive i) a sale bonus equal to 5.5% of the purchase price and ii) a stay bonus equal to 7.1% of the purchase price; provided, however, that in no event shall the amount paid or payable by the purchaser considered for the Incentive Plan calculation exceed $78,335,000. Each Participant shall participate on these bonuses based on its Participation Percentage.

 

 

If the purchase price is less than $20,000,000, then Participants shall be entitled to receive a stay bonus equal to 7.1% of the purchase price. Each Participant shall participate on this stay bonus based on its Participation Percentage.

As the consummation of the sale is not considered probable, no provision has been recognized at December 31, 2006.

13. Income taxes

The components of pretax income / (loss) in consolidated companies for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004 are as follows:

 

       Year ended December 31,  
     2006     2005     2004  
   

United States

   $ (3,105,021 )   $ (1,164,508 )   $ 247,683  

Brazil

     4,332,451       3,273,141       (299,299 )

Argentina

     425,235       (163,889 )     (373,380 )

Mexico

     512,948       (738,794 )     (1,263,245 )

Other Countries

     149,308       (540,480 )     (553,388 )
                        
   $ 2,314,921     $ 665,470     $ (2,241,629 )
                        
   

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Income / Asset tax is composed of the following:

 

       Year ended December 31,  
     2006     2005     2004  
                          

Current:

      

Federal

   $     $     $  

Foreign

     1,916,976       781,856        
                        
     1,916,976       781,856        

Deferred:

      

Federal

                  

Foreign

     (745,196 )     (2,210,340 )     (35,611 )
                        
     (745,196 )     (2,210,340 )     (35,611 )
                        
     1,171,780       (1,428,484 )     (35,611 )
                        

Asset Tax:

      

Federal

                  

Foreign

     71,058       59,122        
                        
     71,058       59,122        
                        

Income / asset tax expense (benefit)

   $ 1,242,838     $ (1,369,362 )   $ (35,611 )
                        
   

The following is a reconciliation of the difference between the actual provision for income taxes and the provision computed by applying the blended income tax rate for 2006, 2005 and 2004 to income before taxes:

 

       Year ended December 31,  
     2006     2005     2004  
                          

Net income / (loss) before income tax

   $ 2,314,921     $ 665,470     $ (2,241,629 )

Blended income tax rate

     38%       48%       28%  
                        

Provision at blended tax rate

   $ 888,848     $ 316,469     $ (632,500 )

Permanent differences:

      

Non-deductible expenses

     705,571       206,139       71,888  

Prescription of NOLs

     236,821       254,870        

Non-taxable income

     (83,625 )     (73,680 )     (6,211 )

Currency translation

     294,081       (190,600 )     (218,044 )

Change in valuation allowance

     (869,916 )     (1,941,682 )     749,256  
                        

Income tax expense / (benefit)

   $ 1,171,780     $ (1,428,484 )   $ (35,611 )
                        
   

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences of differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. The following table summarizes the composition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005:

 

       Year ended December 31,  
     2006     2005  
                  

Deferred tax assets

    

Allowance for doubtful accounts

   $ 1,132,873     $ 550,133  

Property and equipment, net

     471,481       138,357  

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

     42,139       70,392  

Social security payable

     376,830       99,136  

Other liabilities

     352,962        

Taxes payable

     2,681       1,121  

Provisions

     236,241       106,250  

Tax loss carryforwards

     10,104,651       11,443,789  
                

Net deferred tax assets

     12,719,858       12,409,178  

Valuation allowance

     (9,272,221 )     (10,142,137 )
                
     3,447,637       2,267,041  
                

Deferred tax liabilities

    

Other liabilities

           (91,320 )

Unrealized net gains on investments

     (71,598 )     (70,189 )

Customer list

     (80,661 )     (101,703 )
                
     (152,259 )     (263,212 )
                
   $ 3,295,378     $ 2,003,829  
                
   

The total amount of $2,003,829 for the year ended December 31, 2005, is disclosed in the consolidated balance sheet as current and non-current asset amounting to $619,179 and $1,384,650, respectively.

The total amount of $3,295,378 for the year ended December 31, 2006, is disclosed in the consolidated balance sheet as current and non-current asset amounting to $2,904,558 and $390,820, respectively.

As of December 31, 2006, consolidated loss carryforwards for income tax purposes were $32,732,739. If not utilized, tax loss carryforwards will begin to expire as follows:

 

2008

   $ 1,060,277

2009

     455,638

2010

     4,813,006

Thereafter

     26,403,818
      

Total

   $ 32,732,739
 

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

Out of the total tax loss carryforwards as of December 31, 2006 and 2005, there are $1,342,508 and $1,575,885, respectively, with a full valuation allowance which correspond to the DeRemate operations. Accordingly, in the event that such tax benefits will be used, the release of that valuation allowance should be allocated to reduce Goodwill.

14. Commitments and contingencies

Litigation and other legal matters

At the beginning of 2006, the Brazilian subsidiary of the Company had 37 cases in litigation in ordinary courts, 4 of which (QIX Skateboards Industria e Comercio Ltda., Editora COC Empreendimentos Culturais Ltda., Puma Sports Ltda. (“Puma”), and Sporloisirs S.A. and Lacoste do Brasil Indústria e Comércio Ltda. (“Lacoste”)) were related to alleged intellectual property infringement. During the year 2006, the Brazilian subsidiary of the Company was sued in 36 cases in ordinary courts. In most of these cases the plaintiffs asserted that the Company was responsible for fraud committed against them, or responsible for damages suffered when purchasing an item on the website, when using MercadoPago, or when the Company invoiced them. Two of the lawsuits were related to alleged intellectual property infringement, filed by Vintage Denim Ltda. and Barros, Fischer e Associados Ltda., which claimed that our Brazilian subsidiary was infringing their trademarks as a result of users selling counterfeit copies of their products through the Company’s web site. In 2006, the claims filed by Puma and Lacoste were settled, with no consideration paid to the plaintiffs, and an agreement to establish processes to protect intellectual property rights based on the notice and take down procedure for alleged infringing items listed in the web site. At the end of 2006, 68 legal actions were still in litigation in the Brazilian ordinary courts. In addition, the Brazilian subsidiary of the Company received more than 715 legal actions in consumer courts, where a lawyer is not required. In most of the cases, the plaintiffs asserted that the Company was responsible for fraud committed against them, or responsible for damages suffered when purchasing an item on the website, when using MercadoPago, or when the Company invoiced them. At the end of the year, there were more than 670 cases still in litigation in these consumer courts. As of December 31, 2006 the Company had established reserves of $280,636 to cover 157 legal actions against the Company’s subsidiary in Brazil, and $29,687 to cover some lawsuits against DeRemate Brazil because a loss was considered probable. As of December 31, 2006 no loss amount has been accrued over 453 legal actions in Brazil for the aggregate amount up to $1,301,129 because a loss is not considered probable or estimable.

Other third parties have from time to time claimed, and others may claim in the future, that the Company was responsible for fraud committed against them, or that the Company has infringed their intellectual property rights. The underlying laws with respect to the potential liability of online intermediaries like the Company are unclear in the jurisdictions where the Company operates. The Company believes that additional lawsuits alleging that the Company has violated copyright or trademark laws will be filed against the Company. Intellectual property claims, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming and costly to resolve, could require expensive changes in the Company’s methods of doing business, or could require the Company to enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements. The Company may be subject to patent disputes, and be subject to patent infringement claims as the Company’s services expand in scope and complexity. In particular, the Company may face additional patent infringement claims involving various aspects of the Company’s Payments businesses.

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

From time to time, the Company is involved in other disputes or regulatory inquiries that arise in the ordinary course of business. The number and significance of these disputes and inquiries are increasing as the Company’s business expands and the Company grows larger. Any claims or regulatory actions against the Company, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant amounts of management time, and result in the diversion of significant operational resources.

Litigation after December 31, 2006

In February 2007, the claim filed by Barros, Fischer e Associados Ltda. (“Barros, Fischer”) was settled. In order to settle the case, no consideration was paid to plaintiff and the parties agreed to establish procedures to protect Barros, Fischer’s intellectual property rights based on the notice and take down of alleged infringing items listed in the Brazilian web site. In March 2007, the Company’s Brazilian subsidiary was summoned of a lawsuit filed in April 2006 by Fallms Distribuição de Fitas Ltda. (“Fallms”) and Nacional Distribuidora de Fitas Ltda. (“100% Nacional”) alleging that it was infringing its intellectual property rights as a result of users selling unauthorized copies of their copyrighted movies through the Brazilian web site and by using their trademark “Brasileirinhas” on such copies. During 2007 up to date, the Company’s Brazilian subsidiary was also demanded in 19 other cases in Brazilian courts.

Other contingencies

As of December 31, 2006 the Company had reserved $182,842 against some tax contingencies identified in some of its subsidiaries.

Operating leases

The Company has leases for office space in the various countries it operates in. Total rental expense amounted to approximately $474,737, $359,739 and $181,010 for the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, respectively.

Minimum remaining annual commitments under the non-cancelable operating leases are as follows:

 

2007

   $ 405,013

2008

     68,468

2009

     23,257
      
   $ 496,738
 

Employment contracts

Certain executive employees are employed under contracts which provide for annual base salaries aggregating to approximately $1,008,000 per year, a performance based bonus, and some fringe benefits. The employment contracts automatically renew annually, if not previously cancelled. All these contracts include clauses which in the event of employment termination without proper reason, require payment of full wages for one year after employment termination.

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

15. Related party transactions

Indemnification agreements

The Company has entered into indemnification agreements with each of the directors and executive officers of its local subsidiaries. These agreements require the Company to indemnify such individuals, to the fullest extent permitted by the laws of the jurisdiction where these subsidiaries operate, for certain liabilities to which they may become subject by reason of the fact that such individuals are or were directors or executive officers of the local subsidiaries of the Company.

Curtidos San Luis S.A.

The Company leases office space from Curtidos San Luis S.A.. Immediate family of Marcos Galperin (CEO) are managers and shareholders of the controlling company of Curtidos San Luis S.A.. During the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004, the Company recognized expenses from Curtidos San Luis S.A. totaling $309,012, $213,064 and $101,640, respectively.

At December 31, 2006 and 2005, the amounts payables to this supplier were $71,363 and $24,545, respectively.

eBay Inc.

On November 7, 2005 the Company obtained a secured loan granted by eBay Inc. in connection with the acquisition of DeRemate subsidiaries, under the following conditions:

 

 

Principal amount: $12,000,000

 

Interest Rate: 7%

 

Maturity: 5 years, or upon an issuance of securities, such as an initial public offering

During the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005, the Company recognized $820,167 and $128,333, respectively of interest expenses from this loan which are included in interest expense and other financial charges in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. At December 31, 2006 and 2005 the Company owed to eBay Inc. $9,096,833 and $12,128,333, respectively. On November 6, 2006, the Company paid $851,667 of interest. On November 8, 2006, the Company prepaid $3,000,000 of principal.

In connection with the loan obtained from eBay, the Company has pledged all capital stock, membership units or other equity interests that the Company now owns or hereafter acquires, in MercadoLibre S.A., MercadoLibre Mexico S.A. de C.V., MercadoLivre.com Atividades de Internet Ltda., MercadoLibre Venezuela S.A., MercadoLibre de Colombia S.A., MercadoLibre Chile S.R.L. and any other Subsidiaries.

Others:

On January 17, 2006, we entered into a Loan and Security Agreement with Mr. Ignacio Vidaguren, Customer Service Vice President. Under the terms of the agreement Mr. Vidaguren may have requested advances from time to time before December 31, 2006, in an aggregate outstanding amount not to exceed US$214,503, at an annual interest rate of 5%. The agreement

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

calls for interest-only payments on January 17 of each year until the maturity date. The maturity date will be the earlier of (i) January 17, 2011 or (ii) three days after Mr. Vidaguren receives proceeds from the sale of his equity securities issued by us or (iii) the day that Mr. Vidaguren receives proceeds pursuant to sales of securities in connection with our initial public offering. The loan is secured by collateral consisting of Mr. Vidaguren’s property, whether presently existing or subsequently acquired, related to equity interests issued by us and our subsidiaries and any rights or distributions of any kind arising from those equity interests. Events of default include (a) non-payment, (b) violation of covenants such as any kind of transfer of the equity interests, and creation of encumbrances of any kind on the equity interests, and (c) falsity of the representations and warranties of the agreement. At December 31, 2006, the outstanding amount on the loan, including principal and interest, was US$ 9,228.

 

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Mercadolibre, Inc.

Notes to consolidated financial statements (continued)

 

16. Valuation and qualifying accounts

The following table summarizes valuation and qualifying accounts activity during the years ended December 31, 2006, 2005 and 2004:

 

       Balance at
beginning of
period
   Charged /
credited to
Net income /
(loss)
    DeRemate
acquisition
   Charges
Utilized /
Write-offs
    Balance at
end of
period
 

Allowance for doubtful accounts

            

Year ended December 31, 2004

   $ 1,162,053    $ 1,508,812     $    $ (1,180,110 )   $ 1,490,755

Year ended December 31, 2005

     1,490,755      2,904,399            (1,555,448 )     2,839,706

Year ended December 31, 2006

     2,839,706      5,054,643            (3,466,078 )     4,428,271

Funds receivable from customers allowance for chargebacks

            

Year ended December 31, 2004

     1,289      63,774            (25,381 )     39,682

Year ended December 31, 2005

     39,682      518,598            (522,219 )     36,061

Year ended December 31, 2006

     36,061      1,160,264            (1,005,090 )     191,235

Tax valuation allowance

            

Year ended December 31, 2004

     9,771,250      749,256                  10,520,506

Year ended December 31, 2005

     10,520,506      (1,167,208 )     1,563,313      (774,474 )     10,142,137

Year ended December 31, 2006

     10,142,137      460,986            (1,330,902 )     9,272,221

Contingencies

            

Year ended December 31, 2004

          29,867                  29,867

Year ended December 31, 2005

     29,867      79,008       165,203      (62,365 )     211,713

Year ended December 31, 2006

     211,713      525,789            (244,337 )     493,165

*    *    *     *

 

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Report of independent auditors

To the Board of Directors and

Shareholders of Mercadolibre Inc.

In our opinion, the accompanying combined statements of operations, of changes in net investment and of cash flows present fairly, in all material respects, the results of operations of DeRemate Operations, and its cash flows for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. These combined financial statements are the responsibility of Mercadolibre, Inc.’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these combined financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit of these combined statements in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the combined financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the combined financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall combined financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

As discussed in Note 2 to the combined financial statements, DeRemate operations include the accounts of the acquired separate legal entities of DeRemate.com, Inc. The combined financial statements also include allocations of corporate overhead and other expenses from DeRemate.com, Inc. These allocations may not be reflective of the actual level of costs or debt which would have been incurred had the Company operated as a separate entity from DeRemate.com, Inc.

PRICE WATERHOUSE & Co. S.R.L.

By:

 

/s/ Juan C. Grassi

  (Partner)
  Juan C. Grassi  

 

 

Buenos Aires, Argentina

May 11, 2007

 

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DeRemate Operations

Combined Statement of Operations

for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005


 

     2005  

Net revenues

   $ 1,934,886  

Cost of net revenues

     (394,113 )
        

Gross profit

     1,540,773  

Operating expenses:

  

Product and technology development

     (319,827 )

Sales and marketing

     (1,188,761 )

General and administrative

     (608,476 )
        

Total operating expenses

     (2,117,064 )
        

Loss from operations

     (576,291 )
        

Other income (expenses):

  

Interest income

     4,616  

Interest expense and other financial charges

     (62,368 )

Foreign currency loss

     (57,404 )
        

Net loss before income tax

     (691,447 )
        

Income tax

     (7,060 )
        

Net loss

   $ (698,507 )
        

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these combined financial statements.

 

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DeRemate Operations

Combined Statement of Changes in Net Investment

for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005


 

     Comprehensive
loss
    Contribution
from Parent
Company
   Accumulated
deficit
    Accumulated
other
comprehensive
income
   Total  

Balance as of December 31, 2004

     $ 17,090,487    $ (24,696,499 )   $ 144,066    $ (7,461,946 )
                                

Contribution from Parent Company received

       109,000           109,000  

Capitalization of Parent Company loans

       6,617,159           6,617,159  

Net loss

   (698,507 )        (698,507 )        (698,507 )

Currency translation adjustment

   81,464            81,464      81,464  
                

Comprehensive loss

   (617,043 )          
                                    

Balance as of October 31, 2005

     $ 23,816,646    $ (25,395,006 )   $ 225,530    $ (1,352,830 )
                                

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these combined financial statements.

 

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DeRemate Operations

Combined Statement of Cash Flows

for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005


 

     2005  

Cash flows from operations:

  

Net loss

   $ (698,507 )

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:

  

Depreciation

     72,915  

Changes in assets and liabilities:

  

Accounts receivable

     29,908  

Prepaid expenses

     3,225  

Other assets

     54,847  

Accounts payable

     (143,514 )

Provisions

     282,196  
        

Net cash used in operating activities

     (398,930 )
        

Cash flows from financing activities:

  

Parent Company Loans received

     330,972  

Parent Company Loans paid

     (180,000 )

Contribution from Parent Company received

     109,000  
        

Net cash provided by financing activities

     259,972  
        

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

     95,793  
        

Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents

     (43,165 )

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period

     212,116  
        

Cash and cash equivalents, end of the period

   $ 168,951  
        

Supplemental cash flow information:

  

Cash paid for income taxes

   $ 7,398  

Non-cash financing activities:

  

Capitalization of Parent Company loans

   $ 6,617,159  
        

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these combined financial statements.

 

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DeRemate Operations

Notes to Combined Financial Statement

for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005


1. Nature of Business

 

Business operations

DeRemate.com, Inc., operated an online marketplace that enables practically anyone to trade almost anything in Latin America. The DeRemate.com, Inc.’s trading platform is a fully automated online service that is available 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The DeRemate.com, Inc.’s platform supports a fixed price format in which sellers and buyers trade items at a fixed price established by sellers, and an auction format in which sellers list items for sale and buyers bid on items of interest.

DeRemate.com, Inc, conducted its business through 8 subsidiaries located in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Sale of operations

On November 10, 2005, Mercadolibre, Inc. acquired certain operations of DeRemate.com Inc., including all of the businesses and shares in the Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela subsidiaries (“DeRemate operations” or the “Company”). Mercadolibre, Inc. did not acquire the DeRemate.com Argentine and Chilean subsidiaries.

The accompanying financial statements combine DeRemate operations for the period from January 1 to October 31, 2005.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of presentation

The combined financial statements include the accounts of the acquired separate legal entities of DeRemate.com, Inc. and have been prepared in United States dollars, in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. As explained below all of the separate legal entities have determined their local currency to be their functional currency. All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.

Additionally, certain general corporate overheads and other expenses have been allocated by DeRemate.com, Inc. to the Company. Management believes such allocations are reasonable; however, the combined financial statements of DeRemate Operations may not be indicative of the Company’s future performance and do not necessarily reflect what its combined results of operations and cash flows would have been had the Company operated as a separate, stand-alone company during the period presented.

Use of estimates

The preparation of combined financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the

 

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DeRemate Operations

Notes to Combined Financial Statement

for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005


2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

 

date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Estimates are used for, but not limited to accounting for allowance for doubtful accounts, depreciations and useful lives of property and equipment and contingencies. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cash and cash equivalents

All highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less at the date of purchase, consisting primarily of certificates of deposit, are considered to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents are stated at amortized cost plus accrued interest.

Concentration of credit risk

Cash, cash equivalents and accounts receivable are potentially subject to concentration of credit risk. Cash and cash equivalents are placed with financial institutions that management believes are of high credit quality. Accounts receivable are derived from revenue earned from customers located internationally. Accounts receivable balances are settled through customer credit cards and debit cards, with the majority of accounts receivable collected upon processing of credit card transactions. The Company maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts receivable based upon its historical experience. Historically, such losses have been within management expectations. However, unexpected or significant future changes in trends could result in a material impact to future statements of income or cash flows. Due to the relatively small dollar amount of individual accounts receivable, the Company generally does not require collateral on these balances. The allowance for doubtful accounts is recorded as a charge to operating expense.

During the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005, no customers accounted for more than 10% of net revenues. As of October 31, 2005, no customers accounted for more than 10% of net accounts.

Allowance for doubtful accounts

The Company maintains allowances for doubtful accounts for estimated losses that may result from the inability of its customers to make required payments. Allowances are based upon several factors including, but not limited to, historical experience and the current condition of specific customers.

Property and equipment, net

Property and equipment are recorded at cost and depreciated over their estimated useful lives using the straight-line method. Repairs and maintenance costs are expensed as incurred.

 

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DeRemate Operations

Notes to Combined Financial Statement

for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005


2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

 

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

The Company reviews long-lived assets for impairments whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to undiscounted future net cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If such assets are considered to be impaired on this basis, the impairment loss to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the assets.

Revenue Recognition

The Company’s net revenues are derived primarily from final value fees calculated as a percentage of the final sales transaction value and from optional feature fees; and to a much lesser extent, from online advertising.

Revenues are recognized when evidence of an arrangement exists, the fee is fixed or determinable, no significant obligation remains and collection of the receivable is reasonably assured.

Revenues related to final value fees are recognized at the time that the transaction is successfully concluded. A transaction is considered successfully concluded when at least one buyer has bid above the seller’s specified minimum price or reserve price, whichever is higher, or at the seller’s specified fixed price at the end of the transaction term.

Revenues related to optional feature fees are recognized ratably over the estimated period of the auction.

Advertising revenues, which are principally derived from the sale of banners or sponsorship on the sites, are recognized as the impressions are delivered.

Advertising Costs

Advertising costs are expensed as incurred and totaled $518,886 for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005.

Contribution from Parent Company

Contribution from Parent Company represents funds received from DeRemate.com Inc. (the “Parent Company”) for the purpose of financing the operations of the separate legal entities. As part of the financial support given to the separate legal entities, during the ten month period ended October 31, 2005, parent loans amounting to $6,617,159 were capitalized.

Comprehensive Loss

Comprehensive loss is comprised of two components, net loss and other comprehensive income, and defined as all other changes in equity of the Company that result from transactions other

 

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DeRemate Operations

Notes to Combined Financial Statement

for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005


2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

 

than with shareholders. Other comprehensive income includes the cumulative translation adjustment relating to the translation of the financial statements of each separate legal entity.

Foreign Currency Translation

All of the separate legal entities have determined their local currency to be their functional currency. Accordingly, these foreign entities translate assets and liabilities from their local currencies to U.S. dollars using year end exchange rates while income and expense accounts are translated at the average rates in effect during the year. The resulting translation adjustment is recorded as part of other comprehensive income, a component of net investment. Gains and losses resulting from transactions denominated in non-functional currencies are recognized in earnings. Net foreign currency transaction losses are included in the combined statement of operations under the caption “Other income (expenses)” and amounted to $57,404 for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005.

Income Taxes

Each separate legal entity is subject to income taxes in the country of origin. The Company accounts for income taxes following the liability method of accounting which requires the recognition of deferred tax liabilities and assets for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the carrying amounts and the tax bases of assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets are also recognized for tax loss carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets or liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. A valuation allowance is recorded when, based on the available evidence, it is more likely than not that all or a portion of the Company’s deferred tax assets will not be realized. The Company’s income tax expense consists of taxes currently payable, if any, plus the change during the period in the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities.

3. Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation and Other Legal Matters

As of October 31, 2005 the Company had established reserves of $24,692 to cover some legal actions against the Company’s operations in Brazil. The Company’s legal counsel determined that it was probable that these actions would result in a negative ruling.

Other third parties have from time to time claimed, and others may claim in the future, that the Company was responsible for fraud committed against them, or that the Company has infringed their intellectual property rights. The underlying laws with respect to the potential liability of online intermediaries like the Company are unclear in the jurisdictions where the Company

 

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DeRemate Operations

Notes to Combined Financial Statement

for the ten-month period ended October 31, 2005


3. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

operates. Management believes that additional lawsuits alleging that the Company has violated copyright or trademark laws could be filed against the Company. Intellectual property claims, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming and costly to resolve, could require expensive changes in the Company’s methods of doing business, or could require the Company to enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements. The Company may be subject to patent disputes, and be subject to patent infringement claims as the Company’s services expand in scope and complexity. From time to time, the Company is involved in other disputes or regulatory inquiries that arise in the ordinary course of business.

Other contingencies

As of October 31, 2005 the Company had reserved $147,300 against some tax contingencies identified in some of the separate legal entities, and no loss amount has been accrued over other tax contingencies for the aggregate amount of $278,168 because a loss is not considered probable or estimable.

* * * *

 

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16,077,185 shares

LOGO

Common stock

Prospectus

JPMorgan     Merrill Lynch & Co.

 


 

RBC CAPITAL MARKETS     Pacific Crest Securities

                    , 2007

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with information different from that contained in this prospectus. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our common stock.

No action is being taken in any jurisdiction outside the United States to permit a public offering of the common stock or possession or distribution of this prospectus in that jurisdiction. Persons who come into possession of this prospectus in jurisdictions outside the United States are required to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions as to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus applicable to that jurisdiction.

We have not undertaken any efforts to qualify this offering for offers to individual investors in any jurisdiction outside the United States. Therefore, individual investors located outside the United States should not expect to be eligible to participate in this offering.

Until                     , 2007, all dealers that buy, sell or trade in our common stock, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.


Table of Contents

Part II

Information not required in prospectus

Item 13. Other expenses of issuance and distribution.

The following table sets forth the costs and expenses to be paid by the Company in connection with the sale of the shares of common stock being registered hereby (other than underwriting discount). All amounts are estimates except for the Securities and Exchange Commission registration fee, the NASD filing fee and the Nasdaq Global Market filing fee.

 

Securities and Exchange Commission registration fee

   $ 10,217

NASD filing fee

     33,780

Nasdaq Global Market filing fee

     5,000

Accounting fees and expenses

     300,000

Legal fees and expenses

     550,000

Road show expenses

     150,000

Printing and engraving expenses

     125,000

Blue sky fees and expenses

     5,000

Transfer agent and registrar fees and expenses

     10,000

Miscellaneous

     811,003

Total

   $ 2,000,000

Item 14. Indemnification of directors and officers.

Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law authorizes a court to award, or a corporation’s board of directors to grant, indemnity to directors and officers in terms sufficiently broad to permit such indemnification under certain circumstances for liabilities (including reimbursement for expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

As permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, the Registrant’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, which will become effective upon the closing of this offering, includes a provisions that (i) eliminate, to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, the personal liability of its directors for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, and (ii) require the Registrant to advance expenses, as incurred, to its directors and officers in connection with a legal proceeding to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, subject to certain very limited exceptions.

As permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, the Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Registrant, which will become effective upon the closing of this offering, provide that (i) the Registrant is required to indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, (ii) the Registrant may indemnify any other person as set forth in the Delaware General Corporation Law, and (iii) the rights conferred in the Amended and Restated Bylaws are not exclusive.

The Registrant intends to enter into Indemnification Agreements with each of its current directors and officers to give such directors and officers additional contractual assurances

 

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regarding the scope of the indemnification set forth in the Registrant’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and to provide additional procedural protections. At present, there is no pending litigation or proceeding involving a director, officer or employee of the Registrant regarding which indemnification is sought, nor is the Registrant aware of any threatened litigation that may result in claims for indemnification.

Reference is also made to Section              of the Underwriting Agreement, which provides for the indemnification of officers, directors and controlling persons of the Registrant against certain liabilities. The indemnification provision in the Registrant’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Amended and Restated Bylaws and the Indemnification Agreements entered into between the Registrant and each of its directors and officers may be sufficiently broad to permit indemnification of the Registrant’s directors and officers for liabilities arising under the Securities Act.

The Registrant, with approval by the Registrant’s Board of Directors, expects to obtain directors’ and officers’ liability insurance.

See also the undertakings set out in response to Item 17.

Reference is made to the following documents filed as exhibits to this Registration Statement regarding relevant indemnification provisions described above and elsewhere herein:

 

   
EXHIBIT DOCUMENT    NUMBER

Form of Underwriting Agreement*

   1.01

Form of Registrant’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to be effective upon the closing of this offering

   3.01

Form of Registrant’s Amended and Restated Bylaws to be effective immediately upon the closing of this offering

   3.02

Form of Indemnification Agreement

   10.01
 

 

*   To be supplied by amendment.

Item 15. Recent sales of unregistered securities.

The following table sets forth the securities sold by us since January 1, 2004.

 

         

Individual or

group name

  

Type of

securities

   Date of sale         

Number of

shares

  

Total

consideration

Company employees

   Class A Common Stock   

January 1, 2004

to

July 12, 2007

   1,372,379    $ 75,090.49
                       

All sales of common stock made pursuant to the exercise of stock options granted under the Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan to Registrant’s officers, directors, employees and consultants were made in reliance on Rule 701 under the Securities Act or on Section 4(2) of the Securities Act.

Item 16. Exhibits and financial statement schedules.

 

(a)   The following exhibits are filed herewith:

The attached Exhibit Index is incorporated by reference herein.

 

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(b)   Financial Statement Schedules.

No financial statement schedules are provided because the information called for is not required or is shown either in the financial statements or the notes thereto included as part of the prospectus.

Item 17. Undertakings.

The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes to provide to the underwriters at the closing specified in the underwriting agreement, certificates in such denominations and registered in such names as required by the underwriters to permit prompt delivery to each purchaser.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the provisions described under Item 14 above, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that:

(1) For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this Registration Statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the Registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(1) or (4) or 497(h) under the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of this Registration Statement as of the time it was declared effective.

(2) For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3) For the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act to any purchaser if the Registrant is subject to Rule 430C, each prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) as part of a registration statement relating to an offering, other than registration statements relying on Rule 430B or other than prospectuses filed in reliance on Rule 430A, shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement of the date it is first used after effectiveness. Provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such first use, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such date of first use.

 

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(4) For the purpose of determining liability of the Registrant under the Securities Act to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities, the undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of securities of the undersigned Registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:

(i) Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned Registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424;

(ii) Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned Registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned Registrant;

(iii) The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned Registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned Registrant; and

(iv) Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned Registrant to the purchaser.

 

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Signatures

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this registration statement on Form S-1 to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the 13 th day of July, 2007.

 

MERCADOLIBRE, INC.

By:

 

/s/    Marcos Galperín        

 

Marcos Galperín

Chief Executive Officer

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

Signature

  

Title

 

Date

*

Marcos Galperín

  

Chief Executive Officer and Director (Principal Executive Officer)

  July 13, 2007

/s/ Nicolás Szekasy        

Nicolás Szekasy

  

Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

  July 13, 2007

*

Nicolás Galperín

  

Director

  July 13, 2007

*

Marcos Clutterbuck

  

Director

  July 13, 2007

*

Michael Spence

  

Director

  July 13, 2007

*

Alberto Delgado

  

Director

  July 13, 2007

*

Timothy Kingston

  

Director

  July 13, 2007

*

Gerardo Rosenkranz

  

Director

  July 13, 2007
*By    /s/  Nicolás Szekasy      July 13, 2007
                     Attorney-in-fact     

 

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EXHIBIT

NUMBER

   EXHIBIT TITLE
1.01    Form of Underwriting Agreement*.
2.01    Stock Purchase Agreement, dated as of November 10, 2005, by and among DeRemate.com, Inc., S.A. La Nacion, Hispanoamerican Educational Investments BV, Hammer.com, LLC, and MercadoLibre, Inc.
2.02    Asset Purchase Agreement, dated as of November 10, 2005, by and among Hammer.com, LLC, MercadoLibre, Inc., DeRemate.com, Inc., S.A. La Nacion and Hispanoamerican Educational Investments BV.
3.01    Form of Registrant’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to be effective upon the closing of this offering.**
3.02    Form of Registrant’s Amended and Restated Bylaws to be effective immediately upon the closing of this offering.**
4.01    Form of Specimen Certificate for Registrant’s Common Stock.*
4.02    Second Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement, dated September 24, 2001, by and among the Registrant and the investors named therein.**
5.01    Opinion of Hunton & Williams LLP regarding legality of the securities being registered.*
10.01    Form of Indemnity Agreement entered into by Registrant with each of its directors and executive officers.
10.02    Quota Purchase Agreement, dated as of September 24, 2001 among the Registrant, Marcos Eduardo Galperín, Matthew Bannick and eBay Inc.
10.03    Lease Agreement, dated as of March 31, 2007, between Curtidos San Luis S.A. and MercadoLibre S.A.
10.04    Lease Agreement, dated as of March 31, 2005, between Curtidos San Luis S.A. and MercadoLibre S.A.**
10.05    Concession Contract, dated as February 7, 2007, between Border’s Parking S.R.L. and MercadoLibre S.A.**
10.06    Property Lease Agreement, dated June 28, 2005, between MercadoLivre.com Atividades de Internet Ltda. and KW Radar Construtora e Incorporadora Ltda.**
10.07    Property Lease Agreement, dated as of November 1, 2004, between MercadoLivre.com Atividades de Internet Ltda. and Barros e Spitaletti Empreendimentos Ltda.**
10.08    Loan and Security Agreement, dated as of November 2, 2005, by and between eBay Inc. and the Registrant.
10.09    Strategic Alliance Agreement, dated as of September 24, 2001, by and between eBay Inc. and the Registrant.
10.10    Management Incentive Bonus Plan of the Registrant.
10.11    Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan
10.12    Employment Agreements with Directors and Officers.
21.01    List of Subsidiaries.**
23.01    Consent of Hunton & Williams LLP (included in Exhibit 5.01).*
23.02    Consent of Price Waterhouse & Co., S.R.L. member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, independent accountants.
24.01    Power of attorney (included on signature page to the Registration Statement on Form S-1 of MercadoLibre, Inc. filed on May 11, 2007.)
 

 

*   To be supplied by amendment.
**   Included in the Registration Statement on Form S-1 of MercadoLibre, Inc. filed on May 11, 2007

Exhibit 2.01

EXECUTION COPY

STOCK PURCHASE AGREEMENT

THIS STOCK PURCHASE AGREEMENT (this “Agreement” ) is made as of November 10, 2005, by and among DeRemate.com, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Seller” or “DR” ), S.A. La Nación, a sociedad anonima organized under the laws of Argentina (but solely in its capacity as a guarantor for the performance of the obligations of the Seller, “La Nación” ), Hispanoamerican Educational Investments BV, a corporation organized under the laws of Holland ( “HEI” ), Hammer.com, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Purchaser”) and Mercadolibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation and solely for purposes to guaranty the obligations of the Purchaser ( “ML” ). Seller and La Nación are collectively referred to herein as the “Seller Parties” . The Seller, La Nación and the Purchaser are referred to collectively herein as the “Parties” and each individually as a “Party.”

RECITALS

A. Pursuant to a the terms of a certain Framework Agreement, dated October 28, 2005 (the “Framework Agreement” ), by and among ML, La Nación and HEI, on November 10, 2005 (the “Closing Date”) HEI shall be entitled to acquire 3,864,402 Series A Preferred Shares (the “ROFO 2 Shares”) of Seller, which, added to those directly or indirectly held by HEI as of such date shall represent percent 96.97% of the Seller’s total issued and outstanding shares of capital stock. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, HEI and La Nación shall cause DR to consummate the transactions set forth herein upon the acquisition by HEI of at least 60% of the voting securities in DR, in the aggregate.

B. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the Stockholders Agreement, DR has elected to sell to the Purchaser, the following: (i) all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of each of the subsidiaries of Seller listed on Schedule I to the DR Subsidiary SPA (collectively, the “Subsidiaries” ), excluding Deremate Argentina, S.A. ( “DRA” ) and Deremate.com Chile, S.A. ( “DRC” ), pursuant to a stock purchase agreement by and among ML, Purchaser. Seller, La Nación (if applicable) and HEI (the “DR Subsidiary SPA” ); and (ii) all of the assets of Seller (except for computer servers and software licenses required to operate the DR websites) that are used or useful by DR in connection with its business (other than in Argentina and Chile), including, without limitation, (1) all trademarks used or owned by Seller (other than those relating to DRA and DRC), (2) all domain names used or owned by Seller (other than those relating to DRA and DRC), (3) all the data stored on Seller’s database (other than the data attributable exclusively to DRA and/or DRC), and (4) a proportional number of licenses for the use of any personal computer software used by DR in connection with its business, as determined by the head count of users attributable to each of DR’s subsidiaries, (collectively, the “Purchased DR Assets” ), pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement.

C. The Seller owns directly or indirectly 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock in each of the Subsidiaries (but excluding that one share held in DeRemate.com de Venezuela S.A. by “Inversiones Serendipity C.A.” with respect to which HEI shall use its reasonable best reasonable efforts to have such share transferred to the Purchaser).


D. The Purchaser desires to purchase from the Seller and the Seller desires to sell to the Purchaser (1) 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock or quotas (as applicable) of each of the Subsidiaries (but excluding the one share held in DeRemate.com de Venezuela S.A. by “Inversiones Serendipity C.A.” with respect to which HEI shall make its best reasonable efforts to have it transferred to the Purchaser) (collectively, the “Shares” ), and (2) any credit of any of the Subsidiaries in favor of any of DR, DRA, and/or DRC, including, without limitation, all inter-company debt owed by any of the Subsidiaries to any of the Seller or DRA or DRC(colleetively, the “Inter-Company Credits” ), for an aggregate purchase price of Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (U.S.$10,500,000), which shall be payable pursuant to the terms of a certain escrow agreement, dated as of the date hereof (the “Escrow Agreement”), by and among the Purchaser, ML, HEI, La Nación and Hunton & Williams LLP, acting as escrow agent (the “Escrow Agent”) by tendering a certain promissory note (the “Promissory Note”) for a principal amount equal to Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (U.S.$10,500,000) endorsed by the Escrow Agent on behalf of ML in favor of Seller.

E. Each of the recitals set forth above is hereby incorporated into and shall form an integral part of this Agreement.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the promises, the respective representations and warranties hereinafter set forth and the respective covenants and agreements contained in this Agreement and intending to be legally bound hereby, the Parties agree as follows:

1. Purchase and Sale of the Shares and the Inter-Company Credits .

(a) At the Closing (as defined below), upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth herein, (a) the Seller shall sell to the Purchaser, and the Purchaser shall purchase from the Seller, (x) all of the Shares and (y) all of the Inter-Company Credits.

2. The Closing .

(a) The closing of the transactions contemplated herein (the “Closing” ) shall take place at Klein & Franco Abogados, Av. Leandro N. Alem 1050 4o piso, C1001AAS Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 10, 2005. The time and day on which the Closing actually occurs is referred to herein as the “ Closing Date .”

At the Closing, the Seller shall deliver to the Purchaser (1) If available, certificates evidencing all the Shares of each of the Subsidiaries that have certificated securities, duly endorsed in blank in proper form for transfer, free and clear of all liens, pledges, mortgages, deeds of trust, security interests, claims, charges, options, rights of first refusal or other encumbrances (each, a “Lien” and collectively, “Liens” ) of any kind; it is mutually agreed that those existing certificates held by Seller or any other person on its behalf, not available at Closing, shall be delivered to Purchaser or to persons designated by the Purchaser within 7 days after the Closing;

 

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(2) irrevocable power of attorneys to persons designated by the Purchaser to facilitate, cause and register the transfers of the respective Subsidiaries’ certificated or non-certificated Shares to the Purchaser in substantially the form attached as Exhibit A hereto, being it hereby expressly acknowledged that the consequences of all and any acts or omissions by the attorneys there under shall be for the Purchasers benefit and/or at its risk; provided however, Seller shall use its best efforts to cooperate and assist the Purchaser to complete the transactions contemplated herein; (3) all necessary authorizations from DR, DRA and any of the other shareholders of the Subsidiaries to transfer the certificated or non-certificated Shares of that Subsidiary to the Purchaser at Closing or within three (3) business days after request by the Purchaser at any time after the Closing, and (4) all other deliverables that are identified in Section 4 of the Escrow Agreement.

3. Payment . At the Closing, the Escrow Agent (acting on behalf of Purchaser) shall (1) tender and assign (by endorsement) the Promissory Note in favor of the Purchaser.

4. Representations and Warranties of the Purchaser . This Agreement is made by the Seller Parties with the Purchaser in reliance upon the Purchaser’s representations and warranties to the Seller Parties contained in this Agreement, which by the Purchaser’s execution of this Agreement the Purchaser hereby confirms. The Purchaser hereby represents and warrants to each of the Seller Parties, as of the date hereof, unless indicated otherwise, as follows:

(a) The Shares to be received by the Purchaser will be acquired for investment for the Purchaser’s own account, not as a nominee or agent, and not with a view to the resale or distribution of any part thereof such that the Purchaser would constitute an “underwriter” under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act” ) or any other U.S. or non-U.S. applicable securities laws.

(b) The Purchaser understands and acknowledges that (i) the sale of the Shares to be purchased by the Purchaser hereunder has not been registered or qualified under the Securities Act or any other U.S. or non-U.S. applicable securities laws, and (ii) such Shares must be held indefinitely unless subsequently registered or qualified under the Securities Act or any other U.S. or non-U.S. applicable securities laws or an exemption from such registration or qualification is available (such as Rule 144 or Rule 144A promulgated under the Securities Act).

(c) The Purchaser is an “accredited investor” within the meaning of Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act and has such knowledge and experience in financial and business matters that it is capable of evaluating the merits and risks of its investment hereunder.

(d) The Purchaser is duly organized, validly existing and in good standing as a corporation under the laws of its jurisdiction of organization. The Purchaser has requisite corporate power and authority to execute this Agreement and to perform its obligations hereunder. The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by the Purchaser has been duly authorized by all requisite corporate action on the part of the Purchaser.

 

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(e) This Agreement has been duly and validly executed and delivered by the Purchaser. This Agreement constitutes a valid and legally binding obligation of the Purchaser enforceable against it in accordance with its terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent transfer, reorganization, moratorium and similar laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equity principles.

(f) The execution and delivery of this Agreement and the consummation of the transactions contemplated (including without limitation endorsement of the Promissory Note by the Escrow Agent in favor of Seller as Consideration for the Shares) hereby will not: (i) result in the breach of, conflict with, constitute a default under, or result in the termination or acceleration of (whether after the filing of notice or lapse of time or both), any agreement, instrument of indebtedness or other obligation to which the Purchaser is a party or by which the Purchaser is bound or to which any of its assets is subject, or result in the creation of any Lien upon any of its assets (other than in connection with any financing provided by eBay, Inc. to the Purchaser for purposes of completing the transactions contemplated herein); (ii) violate any provision of the Purchaser’s certificate or agreement of incorporation, by-laws or constituent documents; or (iii) contravene or violate any law, rule or regulation or any order, writ, judgment, injunction or decree to which the Purchaser or any of its assets is subject.

(g) No consent, approval or authorization of, or filing or registration with, or notice to, any governmental authority or any third party on the part of the Purchaser is required in connection with the execution and delivery of this Agreement, or the consummation of any of the transactions contemplated hereby (other than any post-Closing filings that may be required under applicable state or federal securities laws, which will be timely filed within the applicable periods therefore).

(h) Other than as stated in any of the representations and warranties set forth in any of the DR Subsidiary SPA, the APA, and the TSA, the Purchaser expressly disclaims any warranty of merchantability in connection with the transactions contemplated by this Agreement. The Purchaser expressly acknowledges and agrees that it has not relied on any of Seller Parties or any of their respective agents, employees, or other representatives, or any broker or other person representing or purporting to represent Seller Parties in connection with any investment advice or recommendation by any of the foregoing in connection with Purchaser’s purchase of the Shares acquired hereunder.

5. Representations and Warranties of the Seller Parties . This Agreement is made by the Purchaser with each of the Seller Parties in reliance upon such Seller Parties’ representations and warranties to the Purchaser contained in this Agreement, which by the Seller Parties’ execution of this Agreement each of the Seller Parties hereby confirms. Each of the Seller Parties hereby represents and warrants to the Purchaser, jointly and severally, as of the date hereof, unless indicated otherwise, as follows:

(a) Each Seller Party is duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization. Each Seller Party has requisite corporate or equivalent power and authority to execute this Agreement and to perform its obligations hereunder. The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by each Seller Party has been duly authorized by all requisite corporate action on the part of that Seller Party.

 

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(b) This Agreement has been duly and validly executed and delivered by each of the Seller Parties and this Agreement constitutes a valid and legally binding obligation of each of the Seller Parties enforceable against each of the Seller Parties in accordance with its terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent transfer, reorganization, moratorium and similar laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equity principles.

(c) The execution and delivery of this Agreement and the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby will not: (i) result in the breach of, conflict with, constitute a default under, or result in the termination or acceleration of (whether after the filing of notice or lapse of time or both), any agreement (including, without limitation, the Fourth Amended and Restated Stockholders Agreement, dated as of March 29, 2005, by and among DR and its stockholders (the “Stockholders Agreement” )), instrument of indebtedness or other obligation to which any Seller Party is a party or by which it is bound or to which its securities or assets is subject, or result in the creation of any lien, encumbrance or claim upon said securities or assets; (ii) violate any provision of the certificate of incorporation or bylaws of any of the Seller Parties; or (iii) contravene or violate any law, rule or regulation or any order, writ, judgment, injunction or decree to which any of the Seller Parties or any of its respective securities or assets is subject.

(d) No consent, approval or authorization of, or filing or registration with, or notice to, any governmental authority or any third party on the part of any of the Seller Parties is required in connection with the execution and delivery of this Agreement, or the consummation of any of the transactions contemplated hereby (other than any post-Closing filings that may be required under applicable state or federal securities laws, which will be timely filed within the applicable periods therefore).

(e) The Seller is directly or indirectly the record owner and the beneficial owner of the Shares. The Seller has good and valid title to all of the Shares, free and clear of any and all Liens of any kind.

(f) Except otherwise stated in this Agreement, the Shares represent 100% of the total issued and outstanding capital stock of each of the Subsidiaries other than DRA and DRC.

(g) Attached hereto as Schedule 5(g)(l) and 5(g)(2) , respectively, are the financial statements of the Seller (consolidating the financial results of each of the Subsidiaries dated September 30, 2005 and December 31, 2004, respectively, delivered by the Seller pursuant to Section 4.2 of the Stockholders Agreement to the stockholders of the Seller).

(h) No intercompany debt between any of the Subsidiaries, on the one hand, and any of the Seller or DRA or DRC (as applicable), on the other hand, will be claimed by any of the Seller, DRA or DRC or any other person.

 

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(i) Since the execution date of that certain stock purchase agreement, dated as of October 1, 2005 (the “Group 1 SPA” ), by and among the Purchaser, Merrill Lynch Global Emerging Markets Partners, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, NTV DeRemate Investors, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, NTV DeRemate Investors II, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, NAP Acquisition III, L.L.C., a Delaware limited partnership, and DLJ Fund Investment Partners III, L.P. (collectively the “Group 1 Sellers” ), through the date hereof, (1) none of HEI, and, to the knowledge of the Seller Parties, no other stockholders of the Seller, has voted its shares in favor of any matter enumerated in Section 5.2 of the Stockholders Agreement and (2) none of HEI’s designees on the board of directors or, to the knowledge of the Seller Parties, any of the other members of the board of directors of the Seller, has voted in favor of any payment or distribution to any employee or officer of the Seller or any of its Subsidiaries that is inconsistent with recent past practice or outside the ordinary course of business other than to those included in Schedule 6(e)(i).

(j) Since the execution date of the Group 1 SPA through the date hereof, HEI, and to the knowledge of the Seller Parties, each of the Group 1 Sellers, have used their reasonable best efforts to cause the management of the Seller to operate the Seller’s (including that of the Subsidiaries) business in the ordinary course consistent with recent past practice.

6. Covenants Post-Closing . Each of the Parties agrees as follows after the date of the Closing:

(a) Each of the Seller Parties shall, and shall cause DR and DRA to, provide full support to complete each of the transactions described in the Framework Agreement, including, without limitation, this Agreement, certain Transition Services Agreement ( “TSA” ) and the APA (as such term is defined below), including, without limitation, facilitating the transfers of the Shares to the Purchaser and the registration of the transfers of any of the assets acquired by the Purchaser pursuant to the APA with any governmental authorities or any other relevant person.

(b) With respect to any Inter-Company Credit, the Seller shall transfer such Inter-Company Credit to the Purchaser for no additional consideration. Seller and Purchaser shall cooperate in coordinating with their respective advisors to implement such transfer within 30 days after Closing. Each of the Seller Parties, on behalf of themselves and any other person, hereby covenants and agrees not to seek the repayment of any Inter-Company Credit or any other obligation of any of the Subsidiaries to any of DR, DRA or DRC.

(c) Each of the Parties hereby agree that the distribution of any Available Cash (as such term is defined below) shall be made in accordance with the following order of priority:

(i) first, towards the payment of severance obligations and bonuses for the employees of DRA up to a maximum of US$900,000.00 and in accordance with Schedule 6(e)(i) attached hereto; provided however, Seller shall not execute any such payment pursuant to this Section 6(c)(i) in any of the Subsidiaries;

 

6


(ii) second, towards (1) the payment of expenses related to the transfer of the Seller’s trademarks, URLs, domain names and the Shares to the Purchaser and (2) if necessary, any payment required to purchase that one share in Deremate.com Venezuela, S.A. held by Inversiones Serendipity C.A.; and

(iii) the remainder, if any, for distribution 50% to the Subsidiaries, and 50% to DRA and DRC; provided, however, that the determination of the cash to be distributed to the Subsidiaries, DRA and DRC (as applicable) shall take into account any costs relating to the expropriation of capital from the jurisdiction of that Subsidiary, DRA or DRC (as applicable) to the United States of America, and such calculation shall be made upon the expiration of the Transition Services Agreement.

For purposes of this Agreement, the term “Available Cash” shall mean any cash held by the Seller in DR, the Subsidiaries, DRA and DRC upon the closing of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and that certain asset purchase agreement, dated as of the date hereof (the “ APA ”), which is expected to be no less than US$1,000,000, and shall exclude cash collected by, or transferred to, DR at the Closing for payment of any shares of capital stock in DR held by any of the stockholders of DR other than HEI or its affiliates

7. Conditions to Obligation of the Purchaser at the Closing . The obligations of the Purchaser to purchase and pay for the Shares at the Closing is subject to the satisfaction (or waiver by the Purchaser) as of the Closing Date of the following conditions:

(a) Subject to the Purchaser’s obligations pursuant to Section l(b) hereof, the Seller shall have complied in all material respects with the provisions of the Stockholders Agreement required to be complied with by it with respect to the transactions contemplated by this Agreement prior to or on the Closing Date.

(b) Seller shall have delivered to Purchaser at the Closing:

(i) if available, certificates evidencing all the Shares of each of the Subsidiaries that have certificated securities, duly endorsed in blank in proper form for transfer, free and clear of all Liens of any kind; provided, however, that if those existing certificates held by Seller or any other person on its behalf, are not available at Closing, the Seller Parties shall deliver such certificates to the Purchaser or to persons designated by the Purchaser within seven (7) days after the Closing;

(ii) irrevocable power of attorneys to persons designated by the Purchaser to facilitate, cause and register the transfers of the respective Subsidiaries’ certificated or non-certificated Shares to the Purchaser (in substantially the form attached as Exhibit A hereto);

 

7


(iii) all necessary authorizations from DR, DRA and any of the other shareholders of the Subsidiaries that are necessary to transfer the certificated or non-certificated fixated Shares of that Subsidiary to the Purchaser;

(iv) a written release (in substantially the form attached as Exhibit B hereto) with respect to obligations of DR, and the Subsidiaries, executed by each of the employees included in Schedule 6(e)(i) ;

(v) Idlers of resignation executed by each of the_directors and officers of the Seller and the Subsidiaries identified on Schedule 7(c) hereto (in substantially the form attached as Exhibit C ) hereto; provided, however, it is mutually agreed that those letters of resignation not available at the Closing Date shall be delivered to Purchaser or to any persons designated by Purchaser within seven (7) days after the Closing Date; and

(vi) evidence of the cancellation of powers of attorney of all of the directors and officers of the Subsidiaries that is satisfactory to the Purchaser; provided, however, it is mutually agreed that those cancellations not available at the Closing Date shall be delivered to Purchasers or to any persons designated by Purchaser within seven (7) days after the Closing Date.

8. Survival and Release .

(a) Except for the representations and warranties contained in Section 5(c), 5(e), and 5(f) and 4(e), and 4(f) hereof which shall survive indefinitely, the representations, warranties, covenants and agreements of each of the Parties contained in this Agreement shall survive the Closing for a period of one year. In the event that the Purchaser seeks any remedies or asserts any cause of action to recover any damages sustained by the Purchaser as a result of the breach or alleged breach by any Seller, such damages shall not exceed 100% (one-hundred percent) of the aggregate amounts paid by Purchaser to such Seller pursuant to Section 1 hereof. In the event that a Seller seeks any remedies or asserts any cause of action to recover any damages sustained by a Seller as a result of the breach or alleged breach by the Purchaser, the aggregate of all such damages to be paid to Sellers under this Agreement shall not exceed 100% (one-hundred percent) of the aggregate amounts paid by Purchaser pursuant to Section 1 hereof.

(b) Each of the Seller Parties, on behalf of itself and each of its respective successors and assigns and affiliates, hereby waives, releases and forever discharges the Purchaser and the Subsidiaries and their respective past, present and future officers, directors, employees, agents and servants, attorneys, advisors, professionals and representatives (each only in their respective capacities as such) from any and all claims, obligations, demands, actions. causes of action and liabilities, of whatsoever kind and nature, character and description other than claims, obligations, demands, actions, causes of action other than those arising out of this Agreement.

9. Amendments, etc . This Agreement may not be waived, amended or discharged except by a written instrument duly executed by the Parties.

 

8


10. Cooperation . From time to time, as and when reasonably requested by any Party hereto, each of the other Parties shall execute and deliver, or cause to be executed and delivered, all such documents and instruments and shall take, or cause to be taken, all such further or other actions as the requesting Party may reasonably deem necessary or desirable to consummate or make effective the transactions contemplated by this Agreement.

11. Binding Effect; Assignment .

(a) This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Parties and their respective successors and permitted assigns.

(b) This Agreement may not be assigned by any Party without the prior written consent of the Sellers. In connection with any assignment permitted or contemplated by this Agreement, both the assignor and the assignee shall be jointly and severally liable for the obligations of the assignor hereunder.

12. Governing Law; Jurisdiction; Waiver of Jury Trial .

(a) This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York without reference to the choice of law principles thereof. Each of the Parties: (a) consents to submit itself to the personal jurisdiction of any state or federal court sitting in the Borough of Manhattan in The City of New York, the State of New York, with respect to actions or proceedings arising out of or relating to this Agreement; (b) agrees that all claims in respect of such action or proceeding may be heard and determined only in any such court; (c) agrees that it will not attempt to deny or defeat such personal jurisdiction by motion or other request for leave from any such court; and (d) agrees not to bring any action or proceeding arising out of or relating to this Agreement in any other court. Each of the Parties waives any defense of inconvenient forum to the maintenance of any action or proceeding so brought and waives any bond, surety or other security that might be required of any other Party with respect thereto.

(b) Any Party may make service on another Party by sending or delivering a copy of the process to the Party to be served at the address and in the manner provided for the giving of notices in Section 16 . Nothing contained in this Section, however, shall affect the right of any Party to serve legal process in any other manner permitted by law.

(c) La Nación hereby irrevocably appoints CT Corporation System (the “Process Agent” ) with an office at 111 8th Avenue # 13, New York, NY 10011, United States, as its agent to receive and forward on behalf of La Nación and its property service of copies of the summons and complaint and any other process which may be served in any action or proceeding relating to this Agreement. Such service may be made by mailing or delivering a copy of such process to La Nación in care of the Process Agent at the Process Agent’s above address, and La Nación hereby irrevocably authorizes and directs the Process Agent to accept such service on its behalf. As an alternative method of service, La Nación, DRA also irrevocably consents to the service of any and all process in any such action or proceeding by sending copies of such process by mail (by method requiring evidence of receipt) with a second copy to be sent to La Nación by courier at its address specified herein, such service (i) to become effective seven (7) days after such mailing, (ii) will be deemed personal service and will be accepted as such, and (iii) will be valid and binding for all purposes of any such action or proceeding.

 

9


(d) THE PARTIES, AFTER CONSULTING OR HAVING HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO CONSULT WITH COUNSEL, EACH KNOWINGLY, VOLUNTARILY AND INTENTIONALLY WAIVE IRREVOCABLY THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY WITH RESPECT TO ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE PROCEEDING BASED HEREON, OR ARISING OUT OF, UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH, THIS AGREEMENT OR ANY OF THE TRANSACTIONS DESCRIBED HEREIN.

13. Expenses . Except as otherwise set forth in this Agreement, whether or not the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are consummated, each Party shall bear its own costs and expenses, including, without limitation, any attorneys’ fees or any tax liabilities, incurred in connection with or arising from this Agreement and any of the transactions contemplated hereby.

14. Interpretation . The descriptive headings of the several paragraphs and sections of this Agreement are inserted for convenience only and do not constitute a part of this Agreement. Words in the singular include the plural and vice versa. A reference to any gender shall be deemed a reference to all genders.

15. Counterparts . This Agreement may be executed (including by facsimile transmission) with counterpart signature pages or in two or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original.

16. Notices . All notices, requests, demands, approvals, consents, waivers and other communications required or permitted to be given under this Agreement (each, a “ Notice ”) shall be in writing and shall be (a) delivered personally, (b) mailed by first-class, registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, (c) sent by next-day or overnight mail or delivery, or (d) sent by facsimile transmission, provided that the original copy thereof also is sent by pre-paid, first class certified or registered mail or by next-day or overnight mail or personal delivery:

If to the Seller Parties, to:

Attention: Gonzalo Piñero

Facsimile No.: 54 11 4319 1948

 

10


with a copy to:

Klein & Franco, Abogados

Av. L.N.Alem 1050, 4th. Floor, C1001AAS, Buenos Aires,

Argentina.                                     

Attention_ Messrs. Jorge C. Davis/Mariano Ambrosini

                                                     

Facsimile No.: No.: 54 11 5550 4001                                                  

If to Purchaser, to :

MercadoLibre Inc.

Tronador4890 6°Piso

1430 Buenos Aires

Argentina

Attention: Jacobo Cohen Imach – General Counsel

Tel: 54-114-014-8000

Email: jcimach@mercadolibre.com

with a copy to:

Hunton & Williams LLP

1111 Brickell Avenue, Suite 2500

Miami, Florida 33131

Attention: Roberto Pupo, Esq.

or, in each case, at such other address as may be specified in a Notice to the other Parties. Any Notice shall be deemed effective and given upon receipt (or refusal of receipt).

17. Attorneys’ Fees . If any Party hereto initiates any legal action arising out of or in connection with this Agreement, the prevailing Party in a finally judicially determined proceeding shall be entitled to recover from the other Party or Parties all reasonable attorneys’ fees, expert witness fees and expenses incurred by the prevailing Party in connection therewith.

18. No Other Representations . Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Agreement, each Party acknowledges and agrees that none of the Parties is making any representation or warranty whatsoever, express or implied, except those representations and warranties expressly set forth herein.

19. Entire Agreement . This Agreement, jointly with the Framework Agreement, the Escrow Agreement, the APA, the Promissory Note, and the Transition Services Agreement, is intended by the Parties as a final expression of their agreement and intended to be a complete and exclusive statement of the agreement and understanding of the Parties in respect of the subject matter contained herein. This Agreement supersedes all prior agreements and understandings, whether oral, written or implied, among the Parties with respect to the subject matter covered hereby. The introductory paragraphs and recitals to this Agreement shall be incorporated herein and shall deemed to be part of this Agreement.

 

11


20. Several Liability . The obligations of each Seller hereunder shall be several and not joint with each other Seller and each other Stockholder.

 

12


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties have executed this Stock Purchase Agreement as of the date first above written,

 

The Seller Parties :

DEREMATE.COM, INC.

By:  

/s/ illegible

Name:  
Title:  

S.A. LA NACIÓN

By:  

/s/ illegible

Name:  
Title:  
HISPANOAMERICA EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENT BV
By:  

/s/ illegible

Name:  
Title:  

The Purchaser :

HAMMER.COM, LLC
By its sole member MercadoLibre, Inc.
By:  

/s/ Marcos Galperín

Name:  
Title:  
MERCADOLIBRE, INC., but solely to guaranty the obligations of Hammer.com LLC
By:  

/s/ Marcos Galperín

Name:  
Title:  

 

13


SCHEDULE 1

List of Subsidiaries

 

Country

  

Name

Brazil    EBazar.com.br Ltda.
Colombia    DeRemate.com de Colombia S.A. 1
Mexico    DeRemate.com de México SA de CV
Peru    DeRemate.com del Perú S.A.
Uruguay    DeRemate.com de Uruguay S.A.
Venezuela    DeRemate.com de Venezuela S.A.

1

DeRemate.com de Colombia S.A is a subsidiary of DeRemate.com de Venezuela S.A.

 

14


Schedule 5(g)(l)

SELLER’S SEPTEMBER 30, 2005 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

15


Schedule 5(g)(2)

SELLER’S DECEMBER 31, 2004 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

16


Schedule 6(e)(i)

Severance and Bonus Obligations

 

Alejandro Oxenford

   350,000.00

Guido Grinbaum

   150,000.00

Sergio Grinbaum

   109,074.00

Ernesto Mendizabal

   92,050.00

David Lorie

   60,000.00

Juan Pablo Bruzzo

   64,341.00

Juan Litovichi

   56,357.00

Rosario Zavalia

   18,178.00
    

TOTAL

   900,000.00

 

17


Schedule 7(c)

LIST OF RESIGNED OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

 

18


EXHIBIT A

FORM OF POWER OF ATTORNEY

IRREVOCABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOWN ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that for good and valuable consideration the sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, Deremate.com, Inc., a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, with principal place of business at [                                                                                   ] (hereinafter, the “Company”), by its duly authorized signatory, [                                                                                   ], Secretary of the Company, hereby irrevocably appoints each of Marcos Galperin, Nicolas Szekasy, Jacobo Imach Cohen and John F. Haley, acting jointly or severally, as the Company’s attorney-in-fact (“Attorney-in-fact”), authorizing said Attorney-in-fact to carry out any of the following:

(a) To prepare, sign, execute and deliver, on the Company’s behalf, any consent, public deed, certificate, power of attorney, agreement, document or instrument which, in the Attorney-in-Fact’s sole discretion, is necessary, convenient, or appropriate to consummate, perfect or register, under applicable law, the transfer of the shares of each of the Company’s subsidiaries specified in Exhibit A 2 hereto (each, a “ Company Subsidiary ” and, collectively, the “ Company Subsidiaries ”), to MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“ ML ”) and Hammer.com, LLC, a Delaware limited liability corporation (“ Hammer ”) and generally, to carry out any such actions and omissions to consummate, on the Company’s behalf, the transactions contemplated in (1) that certain Framework Agreement, dated as of October 28, 2005, by and among HISPANOAMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENTS BV, a Dutch company (“ HEI ”), S.A. LA NACIÓN, a sociedad anonima organized under the laws of Argentina (“ La Nación ”) and Hammer (in the form attached as Exhibit B , the “ Framework Agreement ”), (2) that certain Asset Purchase Agreement, by and among Hammer, the Company, La Nación, and HEI (in substantially the form attached as Exhibit C , the “ APA ”), and (3) that certain Stock Purchase Agreement (the “ SPA ”), by and among Hammer, the Company and La Nación (in substantially the form attached as Exhibit D , the “ SPA ”).

(b) To prepare, sign, execute and deliver, on the Company’s behalf, any consent, public deed, certificate, power of attorney, agreement, document or instrument, which in the Attorney- in-fact’s sole discretion, is necessary, convenient or appropriate, to consummate, perfect or register, under applicable law, the transfer of the DR Purchased Assets (as such term is defined in the APA) as further specified in Exhibit E hereto, to Hammer, and generally, to carry out any such actions and omissions to consummate, on the Company’s behalf, the transactions contemplated by the Framework Agreement, the APA and the SPA.


2

DRA and DRC to be expressly excluded.

 

19


(c) To act as Attorney-in-Fact of the Company concerning the Company’s role as shareholder, member or partner in the Company’s Subsidiaries, expressly empowering said Attorney-in-fact to participate in and vote at any and all ordinary and extraordinary shareholders’, partners or member’s meeting of such companies, with sufficient authority to discuss, approve and vote, and adopt any type of resolution, including, without limitation, approval of financial statements and management of the affairs of any such company, reports, declaration of dividends in cash, stock or in-kind, distribution of profits, nomination, appointment and removal of directors and syndics, amendments to by-laws, increases and reduction of stated capital, issue shares and bonds, approve mergers and spin-offs, sale of assets, and any and all matters which may be submitted to those shareholders’ meetings; sign the minutes of such meetings on behalf of the Company, deposit shares or share certificates or evidence of equity ownership with any such companies for their registration in the Registry of Attendance at meetings and withdraw them; exercise or relinquish preemptive rights, and pay-in shareholders’ capital contributions, call all kinds of meetings, exercise any and all rights of the Company as a shareholder, member or partner at such meetings or any other meeting that may be called at a later date with the same or different agenda, and generally, to perform any and all actions or omissions which are permitted to the shareholders, members or partners by the laws of organization of such Company Subsidiaries and their by-laws, and any other actions that may be convenient or desirable, in the Attorney-in Fact’s sole discretion, in the best interests of the Company; and

(d) To carry out any actions or omissions and to execute and deliver any private and public documents, agreements or instruments as they may be required by applicable law and regulations and which, in the sole discretion of said Attorney-in-fact, may be necessary or convenient to carry out the foregoing powers[, including, without limitation, to appear, on behalf of the Company, strictly in its capacity as stockholder of each of the Company’s Subsidiaries, either as plaintiff, defendant, amicus or in any other role or capacity, before any Federal, National, Provincial, Municipal, county or township judicial or administrative office, agency, branch or courts and is authorized to file complains, claims, counterclaims, petitions and other briefs and appeals, enter into settlement agreements etc. Further, provided, that he Attorney-in-Fact is hereby empowered to appear before any government authorities, branches, agencies, subdivisions or agencies, tribunals or courts, including, without limitation, any Ministry, Secretary, Bureau, Division, Office of Corporations, Municipalities, Commercial Banks, and Public Registry of Commerce (Registro Público de Comercio) or authorities with similar jurisdiction to carry out any and all necessary or convenient actions or omissions, prepare, execute, file and withdraw requests, applications and other forms of petitions, legal instruments and deeds, documents and reports, and to file administrative appeals, be notified of resolutions, accept or appeal them, to establish local domiciles; to make corrections, clarifications; to receive summons and citations; and to perform any such actions or omissions and to execute any such documents,

 

20


forms and instruments on behalf of the Company as they may be necessary or convenient, in said Attorneys-in-Fact’s sole discretion, in connection with the registration of the transactions contemplated by or referred to in this Power of .Attorney wilh any such authority.

(e) This irrevocable power of attorney shall expire on                                          . The Company acknowledges and agrees that the receipt of the consideration contemplated by the SPA and the APA shall be deemed a vested interest for all legal purposes. This power of attorney shall be governed by the substantive laws of the State of New York, United States of America (without regard to its conflicts of law rules). This power of attorney may be executed in counterparts, each of which shall be a legally binding original.

[Remainder of Page Intentionally Left Blank]

 

21


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this power of attorney to be duly executed by its duly authorized officer this 10th day of November, 2005.

 

DEREMATE.COM, INC.

By:

 

 

Name:

 

Duly authorized signatory

 

STATE OF NEW YORK

  )  
  )   ss:

COUNTY OF NEW YORK

  )  

I hereby certify that on this      day of November, 2005, personally appeared                                                                                   , the                                          of DEREMATE.COM, INC., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, who is personally known to me or who produced the following identification (                                                                                   ), and he acknowledged before me that he executed the foregoing document as his free act and deed as such officer, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned, and that said instrument is the act and deed of said corporation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the County and State aforesaid as of this      day of November, 2005.

 

 

(Name of Notary)  
Notary Public  
State of                           
Commission or Serial No.:  

 

My commission expires:

[ Signatures on this document must be acknowledged by a Notary Public and the signatures from the Notary Public must be legalized with the Apostille of the Hague Convention of 1961 or the Consulates of the Countries where it will be used (e.g., Brazil) ]

 

22


EXHIBIT B

FORM OF RELEASE

 

23


EXHIBIT C

FORM OF LETTER OF RESIGNATION

 

24

Exhibit 2.02

EXECUTION COPY

ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT

by and among

HAMMER.COM, LLC

MERCADOLIBRE, INC.,

DEREMATE.COM, INC.,

S.A. LA NACION,

and

HISPANOAMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENTS BV

Dated as of November 10, 2005


SCHEDULES

 

Schedule 2.1    Purchased DR Assets
Schedule 2.2    Excluded Assets
Schedule 5.6(b)    Homepage Criteria
EXHIBITS
Exhibit A    Form of General Conveyance, Bill of Sale, and Assumption Agreement
Exhibit B    Form of Power of Attorney

 

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ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT

This ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT (this “Agreement” ), is made and entered into as of November 10, 2005, by and among Hammer.com, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Purchaser” ), MERCADOLIBRE, INC., a Delaware corporation and solely to guaranty the obligations of the Purchaser ( “ML” ), DEREMATE.COM, INC., a Delaware corporation ( “DR” or the “Seller” ), S.A. LA NACIÓN, a sociedad anonima organized under the laws of Argentina ( “La Nación” ), and HISPANOAMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENTS BV, a corporation organized under the laws of Holland ( “HEI” and together with Seller, DRA and La Nación, the “Seller Parties” ). Each of DR, La Nación, EM, and HEI may be hereinafter referred to as a “Party” and, collectively as, the “Parties.”

RECITALS

A. Pursuant to a the terms of a certain Framework Agreement, dated October 28, 2005 (the “Framework Agreement” ), by and among ML, La Nación and HEI, on November 10, 2005 (the “Closing Date”) HEI shall be entitled to acquire 3,864,402 Series A Preferred Shares (the “ROFO 2 Shares”) of Seller, which, added to those directly or indirectly held by HEI as of such date shall represent 96.97% of the Seller’s total issued and outstanding shares of capital stock. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, HEI and La Nación shall cause DR to consummate the transaction set forth herein upon the acquisition by HEI of at least 60% of the voting securities in DR, in the aggregate.

B. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the Framework Agreement, HEI undertook to cause, on the Closing Date DR to sell to the Purchaser, the following: (i) all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of each of the subsidiaries of Seller listed on Schedule I to the DR Subsidiary SPA (collectively, the “DR Subsidiaries” ), excluding Deremate Argentina, S.A. ( “DRA” ) and Deremate.com Chile, S.A. ( “DRC” ), pursuant to a stock purchase agreement by and among the Purchaser, Seller, La Nación (if applicable) and HEI (the “DR Subsidiary SPA” ); and (ii) all of the assets of Seller (except for computer servers and software licenses required to operate the DR websites) that are used or useful by DR in connection with its business (other than in Argentina and Chile), including, without limitation, (1) all trademarks used or owned by Seller (other than those relating to DRA and DRC), (2) all domain names used or owned by Seller (other than those relating to DRA and DRC), (3) all the data stored on Seller’s database (other than the data attributable exclusively to DRA and/or DRC), and (4) a proportional number of licenses for the use of any personal computer software used by DR in connection with its business, as determined by the head count of users attributable to each of DR’s subsidiaries (collectively the “Purchased DR Assets”), pursuant to this Agreement.

C. The Purchaser desires to acquire (the “Acquisition” ) from Seller, and Seller desires to transfer to the Purchaser, the Purchased DR Assets in exchange for the endorsement of certain promissory note in favor of Seller.

 

- 1 -


D. Each of the Seller Parties and the Purchaser believes that the consideration for the Purchased DR Assets to be acquired by the Purchaser pursuant to the transactions contemplated by the Acquisition represents fair value for such assets.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the covenants, representations and other agreements set forth herein, and for other good and valuable consideration, the Parties agree as follows:

ARTICLE I

DEFINITIONS

Unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms, when used in this Agreement, shall have the respective meanings specified below (such meanings to be equally applicable to the singular and plural forms of the terms defined):

“Affiliate” shall mean (i) any other Person that, alone or together with any other Person, directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by, or is under common control with such first Person and (ii) any director or executive officer of such first Person. For purposes of this Agreement, “control” (including the correlative terms “controlled by” and “under common control with”) as used in respect of any Person, means the power, directly or indirectly, to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of such Person whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract, credit arrangement or proxy, as trustee, executor, agent or otherwise.

“Ancillary Agreements” shall mean each of (i) the Bill of Sale and Assumption Agreement (as defined in Section 2.1 ), and (ii) the Transition Services Agreement (as defined below).

“Business” shall mean that business of Seller (other than that related to DRA and DRC) as of the Closing, which consists of operating an online platform that provides a person-to-person Internet trading site.

“Encumbrances” shall mean any claims, security interests, liens, pledges, charges, escrows, options, proxies, rights of first refusal, preemptive rights, mortgages, hypothecations, prior assignments, title retention agreements, indentures, security agreements or any other encumbrance of any kind.

“Excluded Assets” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 2.2 hereof.

“Excluded Subsidiaries” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 2.2 hereof.

“Expenses” shall mean, with respect to any party hereto, all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses (including, without limitation, all reasonable fees and expenses of counsel, accountants, investment bankers, financial advisors, experts and consultants to a party hereto and its Affiliates) incurred by such party or on its behalf in connection with or related to the authorization, preparation, negotiation, execution or performance of its obligations pursuant to this Agreement or the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby, the solicitation of shareholder approvals, obtaining relevant approvals from any Governmental Entity, and all other matters related to the transactions contemplated hereby.

 

- 2 -


“Governmental Entity” shall mean any United States federal, state, local or foreign governmental, regulatory or administrative authority, agency or commission or any court, tribunal or arbitral body.

“Homepage” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 2.1.(b).

“Intellectual Property” shall mean all United States, foreign and international industrial and intellectual property, including, without limitation, patents, patent applications, rights to file for patent applications (including, but not limited to, continuation, continuations-in-part, divisionals and reissues), trademarks, service marks, trade names and service names, (including without limitation all goodwill pertaining thereto), designs, trade dress, logos and Internet domain names, Internet and World Wide Web URLs or addresses, copyrights (whether or not registered) and applications for and the right to file applications for registration thereof, sui generis database rights, ideas, inventions, technology, know-how, show-how, trade secrets, systems, processes, works of authorship, databases, mask works, content, graphics, statistical models, algorithms, modules, computer programs, computer software, source and object code of such software, technical documentation, business methods, work product, intellectual and industrial property licenses, customer/client lists, supplier lists, proprietary processes and formulae and all other tangible or intangible information or materials.

“Knowledge of the Seller Parties” shall mean that any officer executive of any of HEI or La Nación is actually aware of a fact or other matter.

“Knowledge of the Purchaser” shall mean that any officer executive of the Purchaser or any of its Affiliates is actually aware of a fact or other matter.

“Law” shall mean any federal, state, foreign or local statute, law, ordinance, regulation, rule, code, order, judgment, decree, other requirement or rule of law of the United States or any other jurisdiction, and any other similar act or law.

“Person” shall mean an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, syndicate, person, trust, association, entity or government or political subdivision, agency or instrumentality of a government.

“Purchased DR Assets” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Recital B;

“Securities Act” shall mean the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, together with the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

“Seller Intellectual Property” shall mean all Intellectual Property that is currently used in the Business, including, without limitation, the Intellectual Property listed on Schedule 2.1.

 

- 3 -


“Subsidiary” shall mean, with respect to any Person, any corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture or other legal entity of which such Person (either alone or through or together with any other subsidiary of such Person) owns or has the power to vote, directly or indirectly, a majority of the stock or other equity interests, the holders of which are generally entitled to vote for the election of the board of directors or other governing body of such corporation or other legal entity.

“Tax” shall mean (i) any and all taxes, fees, levies, duties, tariffs, imposts, assessments and other charges of any kind (together with any and all interest, penalties, additions to tax and additional amounts imposed with respect thereto) imposed by any Governmental Entity or other taxing authority (each, a “Taxing Authority” ), including, without limitation, taxes or other charges on or with respect to income, franchises, windfall or other profits, gross or net receipts, property, sales, use, capital stock, payroll, employment, social security, workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation or net worth; taxes or other charges in the nature of excise, withholding, ad valorem, stamp, transfer, franchise, business, value-added or gains taxes; license, registration and documentation fees; and customs duties, tariffs and similar charges; (ii) any liability for the payment of any amounts of the type described in (i) as a result of being a member of an affiliated, combined, consolidated or unitary group for any taxable period; and (iii) any liability for the payment of amounts of the type described in (i) or (ii) as a result of being a transferee of, or a successor in interest to, any Person or as a result of an express or implied obligation to indemnify any Person.

“Transition Services Agreement” shall mean that certain Transition Services Agreement, dated as of the date hereof, by and among Seller, ML, the Purchaser and Sellers.

“US$” shall mean United States dollars.

ARTICLE II

PURCHASE AND SALE OF ASSETS

2.1 Assets to be Acquired . Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in this Agreement, at the Closing (as defined in Section  2.6 ), Seller shall convey, sell, transfer, assign, and deliver to the Purchaser, and the Purchaser shall purchase from Seller, in exchange for the Consideration (as defined in Section  2.3 ), all rights, title, and interest of Seller in and to all of the Purchased DR Assets (other than the Excluded Assets (as defined in Section  2.2 )), which, to the Knowledge of the Seller Parties, will be free and clear of all Encumbrances. The Purchased DR Assets to be conveyed, sold, transferred, assigned and delivered to the Purchaser pursuant to this Section 2.1 include those assets, properties and rights relating to the Seller’s Business (other than the Excluded Assets and the shares of capital stock that are the subject of the DR Subsidiary SPA), and include without limitation, the following items:

(a) all of the assets of Seller that are used or useful by Seller in connection with its Business;

(b) any and all rights in and to the homepage and domain name “www.DeRemate.com” (the “Homepage” );

 

- 4 -


(c) any and all trademarks used or owned by Seller, including, without limitation, those listed on Schedule 2.1;

(d) any and all domain names used or owned by Seller, including, without limitation, those listed on Schedule 2.1;

(e) any and all data stored on Seller’s database;

(f) a proportional number of licenses for the use of any personal computer software used by Seller in connection with its Business, as determined by the head count of users attributable to each of Seller’s Subsidiaries; and

(g) all of Seller’s rights title and interest in and to any Seller Intellectual Property (other than those items of Intellectual Property identified as Excluded Assets).

At the Closing, Seller shall execute and deliver to the Purchaser a conveyance, bill of sale and assumption agreement in substantially the form of Exhibit A attached hereto (the “Bill of Sale and Assumption Agreement” ) to evidence the transfer of the Purchased DR Assets pursuant hereto.

2.2 Excluded Assets . Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, the Purchased DR Assets shall not include, and the Purchaser shall not acquire from Sellers:

(a) the computer servers and software licenses of Seller that are required to operate the Seller’s websites;

(b) all of the assets of Seller that relate exclusively to Deremate Argentina, S.A., a sociedad anonima organized under the laws of Argentina ( “DRA” ) and Deremate.com Chile, S.A., a sociedad anonima organized under the laws of Chile (“DRC” and together with DRA, the “Excluded Subsidiaries” );

(c) the Trademarks listed on the Excluded Assets Schedule 2.2;

(d) the Domain Names listed on the Excluded Assets Schedule 2.2;

(e) those assets listed on the Excluded Assets Schedule 2.2; and

(f) any and all data stored on Seller’s database that is exclusively attributable to any of the Excluded Subsidiaries.

The items listed in Sections 2.2(a) - 2.2(f) are hereinafter collectively referred to herein as, the “Excluded Assets.”

 

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2.3 Consideration, Financing and Expenses .

The aggregate purchase price to be paid by the Purchaser to the Seller pursuant to this Agreement shall be One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (US$1,500,000) in accordance with the terms and conditions of a certain escrow agreement, dated as of the date hereof (the “Escrow Agreement” ), by and among the Purchaser, ML, HEI, La Nación and Hunton & Williams LLP, acting as escrow agent (the “Escrow Agent” ), shall be paid by the Purchaser tendering a certain promissory note (the “Promissory Note”) for a principal amount equal to One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (US$1,500,000) endorsed by the Escrow Agent on behalf of ML in favor of Seller.

2.4 The Closing . The consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby shall occur on November 10, 2005, at a closing (the “Closing” ) to be held at Klein & Franco Abogados, Av. Leandro N. Alem 1050 4o piso, C1001AAS Buenos Aires, Argentina, or at such other place or on such other date as may be agreed to by the Purchaser and Seller. The date on which the Closing occurs is sometimes herein referred to as the “Closing Date.”

ARTICLE III

REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES OF SELLER PARTIES

Each of the Seller Parties (except that with respect to DR, the clarification made in section 3.7 shall apply) hereby, jointly and severally, represents and warrants to the Purchaser and ML, as of the date hereof, that:

3.1 Each Seller Party is duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization. Each Seller Party has requisite corporate or equivalent power and authority to execute this Agreement and to perform its obligations hereunder. The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by each Seller Party has been duly authorized by all requisite corporate action on the part of that Seller Party.

3.2 This Agreement has been duly and validly executed and delivered by each of the Seller Parties and this Agreement constitutes a valid and legally binding obligation of each of the Seller Parties enforceable against each of the Seller Parties in accordance with its terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent transfer, reorganization, moratorium and similar Laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equity principles.

3.3 The execution and delivery of this Agreement and the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby will not: (i) result in the breach of, conflict with, constitute a default under, or result in the termination or acceleration of (whether after the filing of notice or lapse of time or both), any agreement (including, without limitation, the Fourth Amended and Restated Stockholders Agreement, dated as of March 29, 2005, by and among DR and its stockholders (the “ Stockholders Agreement ”)), instrument of indebtedness or other obligation to which any Seller Party is a party or by which it is bound or to which its securities or assets is subject, or result in the creation of any lien, encumbrance or claim upon said securities or assets; (ii) violate any provision of the certificate of incorporation or bylaws of any of the Seller Parties; or (iii) contravene or violate any Law, rule or regulation or any order, writ, judgment, injunction or decree to which any of the Seller Parties or any of its respective securities or assets is subject.

 

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3.4 No consent, approval or authorization of, or filing or registration with, or notice to, any governmental authority or any third party on the part of any of the Seller Parties is required in connection with the execution and delivery of this Agreement, or the consummation of any of the transactions contemplated hereby (other than any post-Closing filings that may be required under applicable state or federal securities laws, which will be timely filed within the applicable periods therefore)

3.5 Properties . Seller has good and valid title to all of the Purchased DR Assets, that, to the Knowledge of the Seller Parties, is free and clear of all Encumbrances (other than Encumbrances arising in the ordinary course of the Seller’s Business).

3.6 Disclosure . Neither this Agreement nor any of the exhibits, attachments, certificates or schedules delivered hereunder by the Seller Parties contains, to the Knowledge of the Seller Parties, any untrue statement of a material fact or omits a material fact necessary to make each statement contained herein or therein not misleading. There is no material fact which the Seller Parties have not disclosed to the Purchaser herein and of which the Seller Parties or any of its respective officers, directors or executive employees is aware.

3.7 Brokers . No broker, finder or investment banker is entitled to any broker age, finder’s or other fee or commission in connection with the transactions contemplated hereby based upon arrangements made by or on behalf of any Seller Parties.

3.8 Representations of DR . In the case of DR, the above representations shall only be effective following consummation of the transaction specified in Recital A hereof.

ARTICLE IV

REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES OF THE PURCHASER

The Purchaser hereby represents and warrants to the Seller Parties, as of the date hereof, that:

4.1 The Purchaser is duly organized, validly existing and in good standing as a corporation under the Laws of its jurisdiction of organization. The Purchaser has requisite corporate power and authority to execute this Agreement and to perform its obligations hereunder. The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by the Purchaser has been duly authorized by all requisite corporate action on the part of the Purchaser.

4.2 This Agreement has been duly and validly executed and delivered by the Purchaser. This Agreement constitutes a valid and legally binding obligation of the Purchaser enforceable against it in accordance with its terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent transfer, reorganization, moratorium and similar Laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equity principles.

4.3 The execution and delivery of this Agreement and the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby will not: (i) result in the breach of, conflict with, constitute a default under, or result in the termination or acceleration of (whether after the

 

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filing of notice or lapse of time or both), any agreement, instrument of indebtedness or other obligation to which the Purchaser is a party or by which the Purchaser is bound or to which any of its assets is subject, or result in the creation of any lien, encumbrance or claim upon said securities or assets (other than in connection with any financing provided by eBay, Inc. to ML for purposes of the transactions contemplated herein); (ii) violate any provision of the Purchaser’s certificate or agreement of incorporation, by-laws or constituent documents; or (iii) contravene or violate any Law, rule or regulation or any order, writ, judgment, injunction or decree to which the Purchaser or any of its assets is subject.

4.4 Disclosure . Neither this Agreement nor any of the exhibits, attachments, certificates or schedules delivered hereunder by the Purchaser contains, to the Knowledge of the Purchaser, any untrue statement of a material fact or omits a material fact necessary to make each statement contained herein or therein not misleading.

4.5 Brokers . No broker, finder or investment banker is entitled to any broker age, finder’s or other fee or commission in connection with the transactions contemplated hereby based upon arrangements made by or on behalf of the Purchaser.

4.6. Consent. Authorizations . No consent, approval or authorization of, or filing or registration with, or notice to, any governmental authority or any third party on the part of the Purchaser is required in connection with the execution and delivery of this Agreement, or the consummation of any of the transactions contemplated hereby (other than any post-Closing filings that may be required under applicable state or federal securities laws, which will be timely filed within the applicable periods therefore).

4.7. Other than as stated in any of the representations and warranties set forth in any of the DR Subsidiary SPA, the APA, and the TSA, the Purchaser expressly disclaims any warranty of merchantability in connection with the transactions contemplated by this Agreement. The Purchaser expressly acknowledges and agrees that it has not relied on any of Seller Parties or any of their respective agents, employees, or other representatives, or any broker or other person representing or purporting to represent Seller Parties in connection with any investment advice or recommendation by any of the foregoing in connection with Purchaser’s purchase of the DR Purchased Assets acquired hereunder.

ARTICLE V

ADDITIONAL COVENANTS AND AGREEMENTS

5.1 Further Action; Consents; Filings .

(a) Upon the terms and subject to the conditions hereof, each of the parties hereto shall use all commercially reasonable best efforts to (i) take, or cause to be taken, all appropriate action, and do, or cause to be done, all things necessary, proper or advisable under applicable Law or otherwise to consummate and make effective the transactions contemplated hereby, (ii) obtain from Governmental Entities and other applicable third parties any consents, licenses, permits, waivers, approvals, authorizations or orders required to be obtained or made by the Purchaser or Seller or any of their respective Subsidiaries in connection with the

 

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authorization, execution and delivery of this Agreement and the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby, and (iii) make all necessary filings, and thereafter make any other required or appropriate submissions, with respect to this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby required under (A) the Securities Act and any other applicable federal or Blue Sky Laws, and (B) any other applicable Law. The parties hereto shall cooperate and consult with each other in connection with the making of all such filings, including by providing copies of all such documents to the nonfiling parties and their advisors prior to filing, and none of the parties shall file any such document if any of the other parties shall have reasonably objected to the filing of such document. No party shall consent to any voluntary extension of any statutory deadline or waiting period or to any voluntary delay of the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby at the behest of any Governmental Entity without the consent and agreement of the other parties hereto, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.

(b) Each of Seller and the Purchaser will give any notices to third Persons, and use commercially reasonable efforts to obtain any consents from third Persons necessary, proper or advisable to consummate the transactions contemplated by this Agreement.

5.2 Public Disclosure . Unless otherwise permitted by this Agreement, the Purchaser and Seller Parties shall consult with each other before issuing any press release or otherwise making any public statement or making any other public (or non-confidential) disclosure (whether or not in response to an inquiry) regarding the terms of this Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby, and neither shall issue any such press release or make any such statement or disclosure without the prior approval of the other (which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld).

5.3 Confidentiality . Each of the Parties agrees not to make public announcements with respect to the transactions contemplated herein without the prior written consent of all other Parties; provided, however, that each party shall be permitted to make such disclosures to the public or to such governmental agencies as its counsel may deem reasonably necessary to comply with applicable Laws. Each of the Parties agrees, and agrees to cause their respective Affiliates, counsel, accountants and other authorized representatives to agree, to maintain the confidentiality of all information received from the other Parties and their representatives and not use such information for any purpose except to evaluate the transactions contemplated herein. The information shall be supplied only to financing sources, legal counsel, accountants and others on a “need to know” basis, it being understood that such representatives shall be informed of the highly confidential nature of the information and the transactions contemplated hereby and that, by receiving such information, they are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this Section 5.3.

5.4 Certain Tax Matters . Seller shall be responsible for the payment of and shall pay all federal, state, local or foreign taxes of Seller due any taxing authority with respect to all periods up to and including the Closing Date and periods after the Closing Date. The Purchaser shall be responsible for the payment of and shall pay all federal, state, local or foreign taxes of the subsidiaries of DR acquired as a result of that certain Stock Purchase Agreement dated as of November 10. 2005, by and between DR, HEI, La Nación the Purchaser and ML, due any taxing authority with respect to all periods up to and including the Closing Date and periods after the Closing Date

 

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5.5 Further Assurances . At any time, and from time to time, after the Closing Date, the Parties shall execute such additional instruments and take such actions as may be reasonably requested by the other Parties to confirm or perfect or otherwise to carry out the intent and purposes of this Agreement. In addition, each of the Seller parties and the Purchaser will cooperate in order to implement the economic terms of the transactions contemplated hereunder on the most efficient terms taking into account the tax and cash flow concerns of each of the Parties.

5.6 License to Use Certain Purchased DR Assets; Ownership of Homepage .

(a) Upon its acquisition of the DR Purchased Assets, the Purchaser hereby agrees to grant Seller and the Excluded Subsidiaries an exclusive right to use the Homepage (other than the Purchaser’s right to use the Homepage) as an online platform to direct users and/or potential users to the designated internet links of DRA and/or DRC for a period of five (5) years after the date hereof (the “License Period” ).

(b) During the License Period, the Purchaser shall maintain the Homepage in accordance with the criteria set forth in Schedule 5.6(b) hereto and the Purchaser will not modify or otherwise alter such Schedule 5.6(b) in any manner, unless the Purchaser shall have obtained Seller’s prior consent.

(c) After the expiration of the License Period, each of the Seller Parties and the Purchaser hereby agrees and acknowledges that the Purchaser will retain any and all rights in and to the Homepage and the hosting of the Homepage, and the Purchaser will include a statement on the URL “www.DeRemate.com” advising users that they should log onto the local websites for each of DRA and DRC.

(d) For one (1) year after the date hereof, none of the Seller Parties (on behalf of themselves and any of its respective Affiliates) shall not:

(1) sell or license any technology held, owned or used by Seller, including, without limitation, any technology owned or used by Seller, DRA or DRC in connection with DRA’s or DRC’s or Seller’s business (collectively, the “DR Technology” ) to any third party or any of their respective Affiliates in any of Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru or Uruguay; or

(2) use any of the DR Technology, in such a manner that would be available to online users in any of Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru or Uruguay.

5.7 Rights of First Offer .

(a) If, at any time and for a period of four (4) years after the date hereof, Seller, any Affiliate of Seller, or El Mercurio S.A., a Chilean corporation (or any Affiliate of El Mercurio S.A.) (collectively, “EM” ) (collectively, the “Transferor Parties” ) receives a bona fide offer (the “Offer” ) to purchase (x) any or all of its shares of capital stock in any of DRA or DRC or (y) any material assets of any of DRA or DRC (or both) (items (x) and (y) are collectively referred to as the “Offered Assets” ) from a third party (other than an Affiliate of the Transferor Party) (the “Offeror” ) which such Transferor Party wishes to accept, the provisions of and procedures set forth in this Section 5.7(a) shall be applicable:

 

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(1) The Transferor Party shall cause the Offer to be reduced to writing and shall notify the Purchaser in writing of the Offer (a “Notice of Sale” ). A Notice of Sale shall contain an irrevocable offer to sell such Offered Assets to the Purchaser in the manner set forth below at a purchase price equal to the price contained in, and on the same terms and conditions of, the Offer, and shall include a true copy of the Offer (which shall specify the name, business address, business telephone number and principal line(s) of business of the Offeror). At any time within thirty (30) days after the date of the receipt by the Purchaser of a Notice of Sale (the “Acceptance Period” ), the Purchaser shall have the right and option to purchase all, and not less than all, of the Offered Assets covered by the Offer either (A) at the same price and on the same terms and conditions as the Offer, or (B) if the Offer includes any consideration other than cash, then at the sole option of the Purchaser, at the equivalent all cash price, determined in good faith by the Purchaser, after receiving a fairness opinion issued by a reputable financial institution in connection with the determination of such substitute consideration. Any acceptance of the Offer contained in the Notice of Sale issued by any Transferor Party shall compel the Purchaser to buy all the Offered Assets included in the Notice of Sale.

(2) If effective acceptances are not received from the Purchaser by the expiration of the Acceptance Period pursuant to Section 5.7(a)(1) above in respect of all of the Offered Assets included in the Notice of Sale, then the Transferor Party may, during the succeeding ninety (90) day period, sell all, but no less than all, of the Offered Assets covered by the Offer (and the Notice of Sale) to the Offeror at a price and on terms not less favorable to the Purchaser than those contained in the Offer (and the Notice of Sale). Promptly after such sale, the Transferor Party shall notify the Purchaser of the consummation thereof and shall furnish such evidence of the completion and time of completion of such sale and of the terms thereof as may reasonably be requested by the Purchaser. If, at the end of the ninety (90) days following the expiration of the Acceptance Period, the Transferor Party has not completed the sale of such Offered Assets as aforesaid, then no disposition of the Offered Assets of the Transferor Party can be effected without starting over again with the process established in this Section  5.7(a).

(3) The closing of the sale—including the relevant payment—, shall be held not less than ten (10) days or more than thirty (30) days after the expiration of the Acceptance Period. Any payment required lo be made in connection with the purchase shall be made by wire transfer of immediately available funds or by delivery of a certified bank check or checks in the appropriate amount (and any such non-cash consideration to be paid) to the Transferor Party (or such Transferor Party’s legal representative, as the case may be).

(4) Notwithstanding any of the foregoing in this Section 5.7(a) , Seller may transfer to EM (or an Affiliate thereof) all (but not part) the issued and outstanding capital stock of DRC and the assets and licenses needed to operate DRC; provided, however, that any subsequent transfer of any of the shares or material assets of DRC by EM (or its Affiliate) to any third party who is not an Affiliate, shall be subject to the right of first offer provisions set forth in this Section 5.7(a) , and LN shall cause EM to sign an agreement confirming the terms of this right of first offer of the Purchaser with respect to DRC.

 

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(b) If, at any time and for a period of four (4) years after the date hereof, DRA or DRC (collectively, the “Issuing Parties” ) receives a bona fide offer (the “Issuance Offer” ) from a third party (other than an Affiliate of the Issuing Party) (the “Purchaser” ) to purchase that amount of new equity securities to be issued by DRA or DRC that would transfer a “controlling” interest in either DRA or DRC (collectively, the “New Securities” ) which such Issuing Party wishes to accept, the provisions of and procedures set forth in this Section 5.7(b) shall be applicable:

(1) The Issuing Party shall cause the Offer to be reduced to writing and shall notify the Purchaser in writing of the Offer (a “Notice of Issuance” ). A Notice of Issuance shall contain an irrevocable offer to sell such New Securities to the Purchaser in the manner set forth below at a purchase price equal to the price contained in, and on the same terms and conditions of, the Issuance Offer, and shall include a true copy of the Issuance Offer (which shall specify the name, business address, business telephone number and principal line(s) of business of the Purchaser). At any time within thirty (30) days after the date of the receipt by the Purchaser of a Notice of Issuance (the “Issuance Acceptance Period” ), the Purchaser shall have the right and option to purchase all, and not less than all, of the New Securities covered by the Issuance Offer either (A) at the same price and on the same terms and conditions as the Issuance Offer, or (B) if the Issuance Offer includes any consideration other than cash, then at the sole option of the Purchaser, at the equivalent all cash price, determined in good faith by the Purchaser, after receiving a fairness opinion issued by a reputable financial institution in connection with the determination of such substitute consideration. Any acceptance of the Issuance Offer contained in the Notice of Issuance issued by any Issuing Party shall compel the Purchaser to buy all the New Securities included in the Notice of Issuance.

(2) If an effective acceptance is not received from the Purchaser by the expiration of the Issuance Acceptance Period pursuant to Section 5.7(b)(1) above in respect of all of the New Securities included in the Notice of Issuance, then the Issuing Party may, during the succeeding ninety (90) day period, sell all, but no less than all, of the New Securities covered by the Issuance Offer (and the Notice of Issuance) to the Purchaser at a price and on terms not less favorable to the Purchaser than those contained in the Issuance Offer (and the Notice of Issuance). Promptly after such sale, the Issuing Party shall notify the Purchaser of the consummation thereof and shall furnish such evidence of the completion and time of completion of such sale and of the terms thereof as may reasonably be requested by the Purchaser. If, at the end of the ninety (90) days following the expiration of the Issuance Acceptance Period, the Issuing Party has not completed the issuance of such New Securities as aforesaid, then no issuance of the New Securities of the Issuing Party can be effected without starting over again with the process established in this Section 5.7(b).

(3) The closing of the sale—including the relevant payment—, shall be held not less than ten (10) days or more than thirty (30) days after the expiration of the Issuance Acceptance Period. Any payment required to be made in connection with the purchase shall be made by wire transfer of immediately available funds or by delivery of a certified bank check or checks in the appropriate amount (and any such non-cash consideration to be paid) to the Issuing Party (or such Issuing Party’s legal representative, as the case may be).

 

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ARTICLE VI

CONDITIONS TO THE CLOSING

6.1 Conditions to Obligations of Each Party to Effect the Closing . The obligations of the Purchaser to consummate the Closing shall be subject to the satisfaction at or prior to the Closing of each of the following conditions, any of which may be waived, in writing, by agreement of the Purchaser:

(a) All consents, approvals and authorizations required to be obtained to consummate the transactions contemplated hereby shall have been obtained from all applicable parties.

(b) The Purchaser shall have been provided with a certificate executed on behalf of Seller by an authorized officer certifying that the conditions set forth in Section 6.1(a) and shall have been fulfilled.

(c) Seller Parties shall have delivered to the Purchaser copies of resolutions adopted by the board of directors and shareholders of Seller authorizing the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, in each case certified by the Secretary of Seller as being true, complete and correct.

(d) Seller shall have executed and delivered to the Purchaser the Bill of Sale and Assumption Agreement.

(e) Sellers shall have delivered executed copies of any and all documentation reasonably requested by the Purchaser relating to the Purchaser’s securing the rights to the Intellectual Property included in the Purchased DR Assets.

(f) Seller shall have delivered irrevocable power of attorneys to persons designated by the Purchaser to facilitate, cause and register the transfers of the respective Subsidiaries’ Purchased Assets to the Purchaser (in substantially the form attached as Exhibit B hereto).

ARTICLE VII

SURVIVAL OF TERMS; INDEMNIFICATION

7.1 Survival and Release .

(a) Except for the representations and warranties contained in Section 3.2, 3.3, 3.5 4.2, and 4.3 hereof, which shall survive indefinitely, the representations, warranties, covenants and agreements of each of the Parties contained in this Agreement shall survive the Closing for a period of one (1) year. In the event that the Purchaser seeks any remedies or asserts any cause of action to recover any damages sustained by the Purchaser as a result of the breach or alleged breach by any Seller Party, such damages shall not exceed 100% (one-hundred percent) of the aggregate amounts paid by the Purchaser to the Seller Parties hereunder. In the event that a Seller Party seeks any remedies or asserts any cause of action to recover any damages sustained by that Seller Party as a result of the breach or alleged breach by the Purchaser, the aggregate of all such damages to be paid to the Seller Parties under this Agreement shall not exceed 100% (one-hundred percent) of the aggregate amounts paid by the Purchaser to Seller hereunder.

 

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(b) Each Seller Party, for itself and its respective successors and assigns, hereby waives, releases and forever discharges each of the DR Subsidiaries to be acquired by the Purchaser pursuant to the DR Subsidiary SPA from any and all claims, obligations, demands, actions, causes of action and liabilities, of whatsoever kind and nature, character and description of facts and circumstances preceding the Closing Date other than claims, obligations, demands, actions, causes of action other than those (i) arising out of this Agreement and (ii) arising out of or related to a claim by a third party against a Seller Party.

ARTICLE VIII

GENERAL PROVISIONS

8.1 Remedies . Each of the Parties hereto agrees that it would be impossible or inadequate to measure and calculate the damages to the other Parties hereto resulting from any breach of the restrictions or obligations imposed by this Agreement. Accordingly, each Party agrees that if such party breaches any such restrictions or obligations, each other Party hereto will have, in addition to any other right or remedy available, the right to obtain an injunction from a court of competent jurisdiction restraining such breach or threatened breach and to specific performance of such arrangement.

8.2 Notices . All notices and other communications hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed given if delivered personally or by commercial delivery service, or mailed by registered or certified mail (return receipt requested) or sent via facsimile (with con firmation of receipt) to the parties at the following address (or at such other address for a party as shall be specified by like notice):

 

  (a) If to the Seller Parties, to:

Attention: Gonzalo Piñero

Facsimile No.: 54 11 4319 1948

with a copy to:

Klein & Franco, Abogados

Av. L.N.Alem 1050, 4th. Floor, C1001AAS, Buenos Aires,

Argentina

Attention Messrs. Jorge C. Davis/Mariano Ambrosini

Facsimile No.: 54 11 5550 4001

 

  (b) if to the Purchaser, to:

MercadoLibre Inc.

Tronador 4890 6° Piso

1430 Buenos Aires

Argentina

Attention: Jacobo Cohen Imach – General Counsel

 

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Tel: 54-114-014-8000

Email: jcimach@mercadolibre.com

with a copy to:

Hunton & Williams LLP

1111 Brickell Avenue, Suite 2500

Miami, Florida 33129

Attn: Roberto Pupo, Esq.

Fax: (305) 810 2460

8.3 Headings; Interpretation . The descriptive headings contained in this Agreement are included for convenience of reference only and shall not affect in any way the meaning or interpretation of this Agreement. The Parties have participated jointly in the negotiation and drafting of this Agreement. In the event an ambiguity or question of intent or interpretation arises, this Agreement shall be construed as if drafted jointly by the Parties, and no presumption or burden of proof shall arise favoring or disfavoring any Party by virtue of the authorship of any provisions of this Agreement. Any reference to any federal, state, local or foreign statute or Law shall be deemed also to refer to all rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, unless the context requires otherwise.

8.4 Counterparts . This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, all of which shall be considered one and the same agreement and shall become effective when one or more counterparts have been signed by each of the Parties and delivered to the other Parties, it being understood that all parties need not sign the same counterpart. A telecopy signature of any party shall be considered to have the same binding legal effect as an original signature.

8.5 Entire Agreement: Nonassignability; Parties in Interest . This Agreement and the documents and instruments and other agreements specifically referred to herein or delivered pursuant hereto, including the Framework Agreement, the DR Subsidiary SPA, the Promissory Note, the Escrow Agreement, and the Transition Services Agreement, and each of the exhibits and schedules thereto (a) constitute the entire agreement among the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, the Framework Agreement, the DR Subsidiary SPA, the Promissory Note, the Escrow Agreement, and the Transition Services Agreement, and supersede all prior agreements and understandings, both written and oral, between the Parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, the Framework Agreement, the DR Subsidiary SPA, the Promissory Note, and the Transition Services Agreement, which shall continue in full force and effect, and shall survive any termination of this Agreement or the Closing, in accordance with its terms, (b) are not intended to confer upon any other person any rights or remedies hereunder, (c) shall not be assigned except by operation of Law or as otherwise specifically provided, and (d) shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Parties hereto and their respective successors and permitted assigns.

8.6 Expenses . Subject to the other terms hereof, whether or not the Closing occurs, all Expenses incurred in connection with this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby shall be paid by the Party that incurs such Expenses.

 

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8.7 Severability . In the event that any provision of this Agreement, or the application thereof, becomes or is declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal, void or unenforceable, the remainder of this Agreement will continue in full force and effect and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances will be interpreted so as reasonably to effect the intent of the parties hereto. The Parties further agree to replace such void or unenforceable provision of this Agreement with a valid and enforceable provision that will achieve, to the extent possible, the economic, business and other purposes of such void or unenforceable provision.

8.8 Governing Law . THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK WITHOUT REFERENCE TO SUCH STATE’S PRINCIPLES OF CONFLICTS OF LAW.

8.9 Consent to Jurisdiction; Service of Process .

(a) Each of the Seller Parties and the Purchaser hereby irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state or federal courts located in the Borough of Manhattan in New York, in connection with any suit, action or other proceeding arising out of or relating to this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby, and hereby agree not to assert, by way of motion, as a defense, or otherwise in any such suit, action or proceeding that the suit, action or proceeding is brought in an inconvenient forum, that the venue of the suit, action or proceeding is improper or that this Agreement or the subject matter hereof may not be enforced by such courts.

(b) Each of La Nación and HEI hereby irrevocably appoints CT Corporation System (the “Process Agent” ) with an office on the Effective Date at 111 8th Avenue #13, New York, NY 10011, United States, as its agent to receive and forward on behalf of La Nación and HEI and its property service of copies of the summons and complaint and any other process which may be served in any action or proceeding relating to this Agreement. Such service may be made by mailing or delivering a copy of such process to the La Nación and HEI (as applicable) in care of the Process Agent at the Process Agent’s above address, and each of La Nación and HEI hereby irrevocably authorizes and directs the Process Agent to accept such service on its behalf. As an alternative method of service, each of La Nación and HEI also irrevocably consents to the service of any and all process in any such action or proceeding by sending copies of such process by mail (by method requiring evidence of receipt) with a second copy to be sent to La Nación and HEI (as applicable) by courier at its address specified herein, such service (i) to become effective seven (7) days after such mailing, (ii) will be deemed personal service and will be accepted as such, and (iii) will be valid and binding for all purposes of any such action or proceeding. Nothing herein shall affect the right of any Party hereto to serve process in any other manner permitted by applicable Law.

8.10 Amendment; Waiver . This Agreement may not be changed, amended, terminated, augmented, rescinded, or discharged (other than by performance), in whole or in part, except by a writing executed by each of the Seller Parties and the Purchaser, and no waiver of any of the provisions or conditions of this Agreement or any of the rights of a party hereto shall be effective or binding unless such waiver shall be in writing and signed by the party claimed to have given or consented thereto. Except

 

- 16 -


to the extent that a party hereto may have otherwise agreed in writing, no waiver by that party of any condition of this Agreement or breach by the other party of any of its obligations or representations hereunder or thereunder shall be deemed to be a waiver of any other condition or subsequent or prior breach of the same or any other obligation or representation by the other party, nor shall any forbearance by the first party to seek a remedy for any noncompliance or breach by the other party be deemed to be a waiver by the first party of its rights and remedies with respect to such noncompliance or breach.

8.11 Arm’s Length Negotiations . Each party herein expressly represents and warrants to all other parties hereto that (a) before executing this Agreement, said party has fully informed itself of the terms, contents, conditions and effects of this Agreement, (b) said party has relied solely and completely upon its own judgment in executing this Agreement, (c) said party has had the opportunity to seek and has obtained the advice of counsel before executing this Agreement, (d) said party has acted voluntarily and of its own free will in executing this Agreement, (e) said party is not acting under duress, whether economic or physical, in executing this Agreement, and (f) this Agreement is the result of arm’s length negotiations conducted by and among the parties and their respective counsel.

8.12 Waiver of Jury Trial . EACH PARTY HERETO HEREBY KNOWINGLY, VOLUNTARILY, AND INTENTIONALLY WAIVES THE RIGHT ANY PARTY MAY HAVE TO A TRIAL BY JURY IN RESPECT TO ANY DISPUTE BASED HEREON, OR ARISING OUT OF, UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT AND ANY OTHER AGREEMENT CONTEMPLATED TO BE EXECUTED IN CONJUNCTION HEREWITH, OR ANY COURSE OF CONDUCT, COURSE OF DEALING, STATEMENTS (WHETHER VERBAL OR WRITTEN) OR ACTIONS OF ANY PARTY.

{Signature Page Follows}

 

- 17 -


IN WITNESS WHEREOF , each of the Parties have caused this Agreement to be executed and delivered by their respective officers thereunto duly authorized as of the date first written above.

 

HAMMER.COM, LLC
By its sole member MercadoLibre, Inc.
By:  

/s/ Marcos Galperín

Name:  
Title:  

MERCADOLIBRE, INC., but solely to guaranty

the obligations of Hammer.com, LLC

By:  

/s/ Marcos Galperín

Name:  
Title:   President
DEREMATE.COM, INC.
By:  

/s/ Illegible

Name:  
Title:   President
S.A. LA NACIÓN
By:  

/s/ Illegible

Name:  
Title:  

HISPANOAMERICAN EDUCATIONAL

INVESTMENTS; BV., solely with respect its

obligations in Section 5.7

By:  

/s/ Illegible

Name:  
Title:  

 

- 18 -


Schedule 2.1

PURCHASED DR ASSETS

 

(a) all of the assets of Seller that are used or useful by Seller in connection with its Business;

 

(b) any and all rights in and to the homepage and domain name “www.DeRemate.com” (the “Homepage”);

 

(c) any and all trademarks used or owned by Seller, including, without limitation, those listed below;

 

Country

  

Owner

  

Trademark

   Class    Date of
Registration
  

Status

Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Arremate.com    35    18/03/2002    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Arremate.com    38    18/03/2002    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Arremate.com    42    18/03/2002    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Aremate.com    35    18/03/2002    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc    Aremate.com    38    18/03/2002    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Arremate.com    38    18/03/2002    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Aremate.com    42    18/03/2002    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Arremate.com    16    02/05/2003    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    “Vende e compra produtos do seu pais”    35    21/09/2001    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    “Vende e compra produtos do seu pais”    38    21/09/2001    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    “Vende e compra produtos do seu pais”    42    21/09/2001    Registered
Bolivia    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    20/02/2001    Registered
Bolivia    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    20/02/2001    Registered
Bolivia    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate    16    12/07/2001    Registered
Bolivia    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    23/03/2001    Registered
Bolivia    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    20/02/2001    Registered
Bolivia    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    08/03/2001    Registered
Colombia    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    26/04/2001    Registered
Colombia    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    26/04/2001    Registered
Colombia    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    10/09/2001    Registered
Colombia    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    42    19/09/2001    Registered
Costa Rica    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    05/12/2000    Registered
Costa Rica    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    05/12/2000    Registered
Costa Rica    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    26/10/2000    Registered
Costa Rica    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    05/12/2000    Registered
Costa Rica    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    05/02/2001    Registered
Costa Rica    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    05/12/2000    Registered
Ecuador    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    29/09/2000    Registered
Ecuador    Aremate.com Inc    Logo    35    29/09/2000    Registered
Ecuador    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    16/11/2000    Registered
Ecuador    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    29/09/2000    Registered
Ecuador    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    29/09/2000    Registered
Ecuador    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    29/09/2000    Registered
Guatemala    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    13/12/2000    Registered
Guatemala    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    14/12/2000    Registered
Guatemala    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    04/10/2001    Registered
Guatemala    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    15/03/2002    Registered

 

- 19 -


Country

  

Owner

  

Trademark

   Class    Date of
Registration
  

Status

Guatemala    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    26/11/2001    Registered
Guatemala    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    30/08/2001    Registered
Honduras    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    29/03/2001    Registered
Honduras    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    26/02/2001    Registered
Honduras    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    12/03/2001    Registered
Honduras    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    20/03/2001    Registered
Honduras    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    14/12/2000    Registered
Honduras    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    29/12/2000    Registered
Mexico    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    16/03/2000    Registered
Mexico    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    27/10/2000    Registered
Mexico    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    35    26/10/1999    Registered
Mexico    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    02/05/2000    Registered
Mexico    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    23/10/1999    Registered
Mexico    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    17/03/2000    Registered
European Community    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35/36/38    07/03/2000    Registered
European Community    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16/18/25    02/05/2001    Registered
European Community    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    36/38/35    08/01/2001    Registered
Nicaragua    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    05/03/2001    Registered
Nicaragua    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    05/03/2001    Registered
Nicaragua    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    13/03/2001    Registered
Nicaragua    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    05/03/2001    Registered
Nicaragua    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    09/03/2001    Registered
Nicaragua    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    05/03/2001    Registered
Panamá    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    14/03/2003    Registered
Panamá    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    14/03/2000    Registered
Panamá    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    17/03/2000    Registered
Panamá    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    16/02/2000    Registered
Panamá    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    14/03/2000    Registered
Panamá    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    24/02/2000    Registered
Paraguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    25/05/2001    Registered
Paraguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    25/05/2001    Registered
Paraguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    30/06/2000    Registered
Paraguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    35    19/10/2000    Registered
Paraguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    04/05/2001    Registered
Perú    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    18/07/2000    Registered
Perú    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    18/07/2000    Registered
Perú    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    28/04/2000    Registered
Perú    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    12/07/2000    Registered
Perú    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    29/09/2000    Registered
Perú    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    35    24/04/2000    Registered
Dominican Republic    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    35    30/04/2000    Registered
Dominican Republic    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    15/06/2000    Registered
Dominican Republic    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    15/06/2000    Registered
Dominican Republic    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    13/06/2000    Registered
Dominican Republic    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    65    15/06/2000    Registered
Dominican Republic    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    15/06/2000    Registered
El Salvador    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    15/02/2002    Registered
El Salvador    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    11/10/2002    Registered
El Salvador    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    26/10/2001    Registered

 

- 20 -


Country

  

Owner

  

Trademark

   Class    Date of
Registration
  

Status

El Salvador    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    14/09/2001    Registered
El Salvador    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    15/11/2002    Registered
Uruguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    28/09/2000    Registered
Uruguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    28/09/2000    Registered
Uruguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    28/09/2000    Registered
Uruguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    28/09/2000    Registered
Uruguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    35    12/06/2000    Registered
Uruguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    31/05/2000    Registered
Uruguay    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    10/10/2000    Registered
Venezuela    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    22/11/2000    Registered
Venezuela    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    16    22/11/2000    Registered
Venezuela    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    35    11/11/2002    Registered
Venezuela    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    22/11/2000    Registered
Mexico    DeRemate.com, Inc.    Envioypago.com    36    27/09/2001    Registered
Mexico    DeRemate.com, Inc.    Envioypago com    38    27/09/2001    Registered
Mexico    DeRemate.com, Inc.    Envloypago.com    39    26/10/2004    Registered

Country

  

Owner

  

Trademark

   Class    Status
Brasil    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    In Process of registration
Brasil    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    In Process of registration
Brasil    Aremate.com Inc.    aremate.com    40    In Process of registration
Brasil    Aremate.com Inc.    aremate.com    38    In Process of registration
Brasil    Aremate.com Inc.    deremate.com    38    In Process of registration
Brasil    Aremate.com Inc.    deremate.com    40    In Process of registration
Brasil    Aremate.com Inc.    deremate.com    16    In Process of registration
Brasil    Aremate.com Inc.    Elbazar.com    38    In Process of registration
Colombia    Aremate.com Inc.    deremate.com    35    In Process of registration
Dominican Republic    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    70    In Process of registration
Dominican Republic    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    70    In Process of registration
Dominican Republic    Arematc.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    70    In Process of registration
Brasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    Aremate.com    35    In Process of registration
Brasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    Arremate.com    38    In Process of registration
Brasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    Arremate.com    39    In Process of registration
Brasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    Logo    39    In Process of registration
Brasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    ponta@ponta    38    In Process of registration
Rrasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    Ponta@ponta    39    In Process of registration
Brasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    porta@porta    35    In Process of registration
Brasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    porta@porta    38    In Process of registration
Brasil    eBazar.com Br. Ltda.    porta@porta    39    In Process of registration
Biasil    eDazar.com Br. Ltda.    ponta@ponta    35    In Process of registration
Brasil    DeRemate.com, Inc.    Entregaepagamento.com    38    In Process of registration
Brasil    DeRemate.com    Entregaepagamento.com    36    In Process of registration
Brasil    DeRemate.com    Entregaepagamento.com    39    In Process of registration

 

- 21 -


(d) any and all domain names used or owned by Seller, including, without limitation, those listed below:

 

Domain Name

 

Owner

 

Expiration

Deremate.com   Deremate.com Inc.   June 11, 2006
Deremate.net   Deremate.com Inc.   June 11, 2009
Derematemotores.com   Deremate com Inc.   November 6, 2005
Afiliadosarremate.com   Deremate.com Inc.   April 12, 2006
Afiliadosderemate.com   Deremate.com Inc.   February 9, 2006
Arrematemotores.com   Deremate.com Inc.   November 6, 2005
Envioypago.com   Deremate.com Inc.   October 10, 2005
Deremate.com.uy   Deremate.com Inc. (Registered on the name of Lexdomain S.A.)   N/A
Aremate.com.ve   Deremate.com Inc.   June 2, 2006
Arremate.com.ve   Deremate.com Inc.   June 2, 2006
Deremate.com.ve   Deremate.com Inc.   May 22, 2006
Deremate.com.py   Deremate.com Inc.   N/A
Deremate.com.pr   Deremate.com Inc.   September 1, 2005
Aremate.com   Alejandro Oxenford   May 7, 2006
Deremate.org   Pablo Garcia   December 27, 2007
Afiliadosaremate.com.br   E. Bazar ...Com. R Ltda.   N/A
Aremate.com.br   E. Bazar ...Com. R Ltda.   N/A
Arremate.com.br   E. Bazar ...Com. R Ltda.   N/A
Arrematemotores.com.br   E. Bazar ...Com. R Ltda.   N/A
Deremate.com.br   E. Bazar ...Com. R Ltda.   N/A
Derremate.com.br   E. Bazar ...Com. R Ltda.   N/A
E.bazar.com.br   E. Bazar ...Com. R Ltda.   N/A
Ringcel.com.br   E. Bazar ...Com. R Ltda.   N/A
Arremate.com.co   Deremate.com de Venezuela   June 25, 2006
Deremate.com.co   Deremate.com de Venezuela   December 7, 2005
Derematemotores.com.co   Deremate.com de Venezuela   June 25, 2006
Derremate.com.co   Deremate.com de Venezuela   February 23, 2007
Ringcel.com.co   Deremate.com de Venezuela   July 7, 2000
Rincel.com.co   Deremate.com de Venezuela   July 7, 2006
Arremate.com.mx   Deremate.com de México S.A. de C.V   N/A
Deremate.com.mx   Deremate.com de México S.A. de C.V   N/A
Derematemotores.com.mx   Deremate.com de México S.A. de C.V   N/A
Derremate.com.mx   Deremate.com de México S.A. de C.V   N/A
Deremate.com.pe   Deremate.com del Perú S.A   N/A
Ringcel.com.pe   Deremate.com del Perú S.A   N/A
Rincel.com.pe   Deremate.com del Perú S.A   N/A

 

- 22 -


(e) any and all data stored on Seller’s database;

 

(f) a proportional number of licenses for the use of any personal computer software used by Seller in connection with its business, as determined by the head count of users attributable to each of Seller’s subsidiaries; and

 

(g) all of Seller’s rights title and interest in and to any Seller Intellectual Property.

 

- 23 -


Schedule 2.2

EXCLUDED ASSETS

 

(a) The computer servers and software licenses of Seller that are required to operate the Seller’s websites;

 

(b) all of the assets of Seller related exclusively to DRA and DRC;

 

(c) the Trademarks listed below

 

Country

  

Owner

  

Trademark

   Class   

Date of
Registration

  

Status

Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com + Logo    38    N/A    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    www.Deremate.com    35    N/A    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com + Logo    16    N/A    Registered
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com + Logo    16    N/A    In Process
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    “El N°1 en compra y venta”    35    N/A    In Process
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    “La comunidad lider en compra y venta”    35    N/A    In Process
Argentina    Deremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    15/01/2002    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    18/01/2001    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    “Para comprar y vender desde tu casa”    35    29/05/2001    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    02/07/2001    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    “Vende y compra cosas de tu pais”    42    03/08/2001    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    “Vende y compra cosas de tu pais”    35    03/08/2001    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    “Vende y compra cosas de tu pais”    38    03/08/2001    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    Deoferta.com    35    14/01/2002    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    Deoferta.com    38    14/01/2002    Registered
Argentina    Aremate.com Inc.    Deoferta.com    42    14/01/2002    Registered
Chile    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    20/12/2000    Registered
Chile    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    20/12/2000    Registered
Chile    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.cl    38    24/03/2000    Registered
Chile    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    25    20/12/2000    Registered
Chile    Aremate.com Inc.    Deremate.com    38    18/12/2000    Registered
Chile    Aremate.com Inc.    www.deremate.com    35    18/12/2000    Registered
Cuba    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    38    15/03/2000    Registered
Cuba    Aremate.com Inc.    Logo    35    03/02/2003    Registered

 

- 24 -


(d) the Domain Names listed below

 

Domain Name

 

Owner

 

Expiration

Derematesucks.com.ar   Deremate.com Inc.   October 10, 2005
Envioypago.com.ar   Deremate.com Inc.   November 22, 2005
Deremate.com.ar   Deremate.com Argentina S.A   April 18, 2006
Derematemotores.com.ar   Deremate.com Argentina S.A   June 27, 2005
Ringcel.com.ar   Deremate.com Argentina S.A   May 6, 2006
Arremate.cl   Deremate.com Inc.   September 10, 2005
Deremate.cl   Deremate.com Inc.   September 10, 2005
Derremate.cl   Deremate.com Inc.   June 25, 2006
Derematemotores.cl   Deremate.com Chile S.A.   N/A
Ringcel.cl   Deremate.com Chile S.A.   N/A
Rincel.cl   Deremate.com Chile S.A.   N/A

 

(e) any and all data stored on Seller’s database that is exclusively attributable to DRA and DRC.

 

- 25 -


Schedule 5.6(b)

HOMEPAGE CRITERIA

LOGO

 

- 26 -


Exhibit A

Form of Conveyance, Bill of Sale, Assignment and Assumption Agreement

This GENERAL CONVEYANCE, BILL OF SALE, ASSIGNMENT AND ASSUMPTION AGREEMENT (the “ Bill of Sale ”), dated this 10th day of November, 2005, from DEREMATE.COM, INC., a Delaware corporation (the “ Seller ”), to Hammer.com, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Purchaser” ), and MERCADOLIBRE, INC., a Delaware corporation and solely to guaranty the obligations of the Purchaser ( “ML” ), is executed and delivered pursuant to that certain Asset Purchase Agreement, dated as of November 10, 2005, by and among the Seller, the Purchaser, ML, S.A. LA NACIÓN, a sociedad anonima organized under the laws of Argentina (“ La Nación ”), and HISPANOAMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENTS BV, a corporation organized under the laws of Holland (“ HEI ” and together with La Nación and the Seller, the “ Seller Parties ”), and El Mercuric S.A., a Chilean corporation (or any Affiliate of El Mercurio S.A.) (collectively, “ EM ”), (the “ Asset Purchase Agreement ”), and is subject to the terms and conditions thereof. All capitalized terms used and not defined in this Bill of Sale shall have the meanings attributed to them in the Asset Purchase Agreement.

NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to the terms of the Asset Purchase Agreement and for the consideration set forth therein and all other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged:

1. Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Asset Purchase Agreement, and on the basis of the representations and warranties set forth therein, each of the Seller Parties hereby sells, grants, conveys, assigns, transfers and delivers to Purchaser all of Purchaser’s right, title and interest in and to the Purchased DR Assets, including, without limitation, the assets described in Section 2.1 of the Asset Purchase Agreement, to the Knowledge of the Seller Parties, free and clear of any and all Encumbrances of any kind whatsoever. The Purchaser hereby purchases, assumes and accepts the Purchased DR Assets, but does not assume any liabilities or obligations whatsoever of any of the Seller Parties.

2. It is expressly understood that the Purchaser is not assuming or agreeing to perform, discharge or pay any liabilities not contemplated to be assumed by the Purchaser pursuant to the terms of the Asset Purchase Agreement, including without limitation, the Excluded Assets.

3. The Purchased DR Assets are transferred to Purchaser subject to the representations and warranties of each of the Seller Parties expressly set forth in the Asset Purchase Agreement, which are reaffirmed for all purposes herein.

4. Each of the Seller Parties hereby constitutes and appoints the Purchaser as its true and lawful attorney, with full power of substitution, in the name of Purchaser or in the name of Seller, but on behalf of and for the sole benefit of Purchaser, to institute and prosecute, in the name of Seller or otherwise, all proceedings which the Purchaser may deem proper in order to receive, collect, assert or enforce any claim, right, interest or title of any kind in or to the Purchased DR Assets hereby granted and assigned to the Purchaser, to defend and compromise any and all actions, suits or proceedings in respect thereof, and to do all such acts and things

 

- 27 -


and execute any instruments in relation thereto as the Purchaser shall deem advisable. Without limiting the foregoing, each of the Seller Parties hereby authorizes any officer of the Purchaser to endorse or assign any instrument, contract or chattel paper relating to the Purchased DR Assets, other than the Asset Purchase Agreement.

5. Each of the Seller Parties hereby covenants and agrees that in the event that (i) any property, Purchased DR Assets or rights covered in this Bill of Sale cannot be transferred or assigned by it without the consent of or notice to a third party and in respect of which any necessary consent or notice has not as of the date hereof been given or obtained, or (ii) any such property, Purchased DR Assets or rights are non-assignable by their nature and will not pass by this Bill of Sale, the beneficial interest in and to the same will in any event pass to the Purchaser, as the case may be; and each of the Seller Parties hereby covenants and agrees (a) to hold, and hereby declares that it holds, such property, Purchased DR Assets or rights in trust for, and for the benefit of, the Purchaser, and (b) to use all reasonable means to obtain and to secure such consent and give such notice as may be required to effect a valid transfer or transfers of such property, Purchased DR Assets or rights. Upon receipt of any such consent, such property shall automatically be transferred to the Purchaser hereunder and included in this Bill of Sale for all purposes.

6. Each of the Seller Parties further agrees that it will at any time and from time to time, at the request of the Purchaser, execute and deliver to the Purchaser all other and further instruments reasonably necessary to vest in the Purchaser the right, title and interest in or to any of the Purchased DR Assets which this instrument purports to transfer to the Purchaser.

7. Any individual, partnership, corporation or other entity may rely, without further inquiry, upon the powers and rights herein granted to the Purchaser and upon any notarization, certification, verification or affidavit by any notary public of any state relating to the authorization, execution and delivery of this Bill of Sale or to the authenticity of any copy, conformed or otherwise, hereof.

8. All of the terms and provisions of this Bill of Sale will be binding upon the Seller Parties and their respective successors and assigns and will inure to the benefit of the Purchaser and its successors and assigns.

9. This Bill of Sale shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York without regard to conflicts of law principles thereunder.

10. This Bill of Sale may be executed in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original but all of which shall constitute one and the same instrument.

[signatures on the following pages]

 

- 28 -


IN WITNESS WHEREOF , the parties have caused this General Conveyance, Bill of Sale, Assignment and Assumption Agreement to be executed as of the date and year first set forth above.

 

DEREMATE.COM, INC.
By:  

 

Name:  
Title:  
MERCADOLIBRE, INC.
By:  

 

Name:  
Title:  

 

- 29 -


Exhibit B

FORM OF POWER OF ATTORNEY

IRREVOCABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOWN ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that for good and valuable consideration the sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, Deremate.com, Inc., a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, with principal place of business at [                                                               ] (hereinafter, the “Company”), by its duly authorized signatory, [                                                               ], Secretary of the Company, hereby irrevocably appoints each of Marcos Galperin, Nicolas Szekasy, Jacobo Imach Cohen and [John F. Haley], acting jointly or severally, as the Company’s attorney-in-fact (“Attorney-in-fact”), authorizing said Attorney-in-fact to carry out any of the following:

(a) To prepare, sign, execute and deliver, on the Company’s behalf, any consent, public deed, certificate, power of attorney, agreement, document or instrument which, in the Attorney- in-Fact’s sole discretion, is necessary, convenient, or appropriate to consummate, perfect or register, under applicable law, the transfer of the shares of each of the Company’s subsidiaries specified in Exhibit A 1 hereto (each, a “ Company Subsidiary ” and, collectively, the “ Company Subsidiaries ”), to MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“ ML ”) and Hammer.com, LLC, a Delaware limited liability corporation (“ Hammer ”) and generally, to carry out any such actions and omissions to consummate, on the Company’s behalf, the transactions contemplated in (1) that certain Framework Agreement, dated as of October 28, 2005, by and among HISPANOAMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENTS BV, a Dutch company (“ HEI ”), S.A. LA NACIÓN, a sociedad anonima organized under the laws of Argentina (“ La Nación ”) and Hammer (in the form attached as Exhibit B , the “ Framework Agreement ”), (2) that certain Asset Purchase Agreement, by and among Hammer, the Company, La Nación, and HEI (in substantially the form attached as Exhibit C , the “ APA ”), and (3) that certain Stock Purchase Agreement (the “ SPA ”), by and among Hammer, ML, the Company and La Nación (in substantially the form attached as Exhibit D , the “ SPA ”).

(b) To prepare, sign, execute and deliver, on the Company’s behalf, any consent, public deed, certificate, power of attorney, agreement, document or instrument, which in the Attorney-in-fact’s sole discretion, is necessary, convenient or appropriate, to consummate, perfect or register, under applicable law, the transfer of the DR Purchased Assets (as such term is defined in the APA) as further specified in Exhibit E hereto, to Hammer, and generally, to carry out any such actions and omissions to consummate, on the Company’s behalf, the transactions contemplated by the Framework Agreement, the APA and the SPA.


1

DRA and DRC to be expressly excluded.

 

- 30 -


(c) To act as Attorney-in-Fact of the Company concerning the Company’s role as shareholder, member or partner in the Company’s Subsidiaries, expressly empowering said Attorney-in-fact to participate in and vote at any and all ordinary and extraordinary shareholders’, partners or member’s meeting of such companies, with sufficient authority to discuss, approve and vote, and adopt any type of resolution, including, without limitation, approval of financial statements and management of the affairs of any such company, reports, declaration of dividends in cash, stock or in-kind, distribution of profits, nomination, appointment and removal of directors and syndics, amendments to by-laws, increases and reduction of stated capital, issue shares and bonds, approve mergers and spin-offs, sale of assets, and any and all matters which may be submitted to those shareholders’ meetings; sign the minutes of such meetings on behalf of the Company, deposit shares or share certificates or evidence of equity ownership with any such companies for their registration in the Registry of Attendance at meetings and withdraw them; exercise or relinquish preemptive rights, and pay-in shareholders’ capital contributions, call all kinds of meetings, exercise any and all rights of the Company as a shareholder, member or partner at such meetings or any other meeting that may be called at a later date with the same or different agenda, and generally, to perform any and all actions or omissions which are permitted to the shareholders, members or partners by the laws of organization of such Company Subsidiaries and their by-laws, and any other actions that may be convenient or desirable, in the Attorney-in Fact’s sole discretion, in the best interests of the Company; and

(d) To carry out any actions or omissions and to execute and deliver any private and public documents, agreements or instruments as they may be required by applicable law and regulations and which, in the sole discretion of said Attorney-in-fact, may be necessary or convenient to carry out the foregoing powers[, including, without limitation, to appear, on behalf of the Company, strictly in its capacity as stockholder of each of the Company’s Subsidiaries, either as plaintiff, defendant, amicus or in any other role or capacity, before any Federal, National, Provincial, Municipal, county or township judicial or administrative office, agency, branch or courts and is authorized to file complains, claims, counterclaims, petitions and other briefs and appeals, enter into settlement agreements etc. Further, provided, that he Attorney-in-Fact is hereby empowered to appear before any government authorities, branches, agencies, subdivisions or agencies, tribunals or courts, including, without limitation, any Ministry, Secretary, Bureau, Division, Office of Corporations, Municipalities, Commercial Banks, and Public Registry of Commerce (Registro Publico de Comercio) or authorities with similar jurisdiction to carry out any and all necessary or convenient actions or omissions, prepare, execute, file and withdraw requests, applications and other forms of petitions, legal instruments and deeds, documents and reports, and to file administrative appeals, be notified of resolutions, accept or appeal them, to establish local domiciles; to make corrections, clarifications; to receive summons and citations; and to perform any such actions or omissions and to execute any such documents, forms and instruments on behalf of the Company as they may be necessary or convenient, in said Attorneys-in-Fact’s sole discretion, in connection with the registration of the transactions contemplated by or referred to in this Power of .Attorney with any such authority.

 

- 31 -


(e) This irrevocable power of attorney shall expire on                                          . The Company acknowledges and agrees that the receipt of the consideration contemplated by the SPA and the APA shall be deemed a vested interest for all legal purposes. This power of attorney shall be governed by the substantive laws of the State of New York, United States of America (without regard to its conflicts of law rules). This power of attorney may be executed in counterparts, each of which shall be a legally binding original.

[Remainder of Page Intentionally Left Blank]

 

- 32 -


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this power of attorney to be duly executed by its duly authorized officer this 10th day of November, 2005.

 

DEREMATE.COM, INC.

By:

 

 

Name:

 

Duly authorized signatory

 

STATE OF NEW YORK

  )  
  )   ss:

COUNTY OF NEW YORK

  )  

I hereby certify that on this      day of November, 2005, personally appeared                                                                                   , the                                          of DEREMATE.COM, INC., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, who is personally known to me or who produced the following identification (                                                                                   ), and he acknowledged before me that he executed the foregoing document as his free act and deed as such officer, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned, and that said instrument is the act and deed of said corporation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the County and State aforesaid as of this      day of November, 2005.

 

 

(Name of Notary)  
Notary Public  
State of                           
Commission or Serial No.:  

 

My commission expires:

[ Signatures on this document must be acknowledged by a Notary Public and the signatures from the Notary Public must be legalized with the Apostille of the Hague Convention of 1961 or the Consulates of the Countries where it will be used (e.g., Brazil) ]

 

- 33 -

Exhibit 10.01

INDEMNIFICATION AGREEMENT

THIS INDEMNIFICATION AGREEMENT (the “Agreement”) is made this      day of                      , 200    , by and between MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “ Company ”), and                              (“ Indemnitee ”).

The Indemnitee is a director or officer of the Company. The Company and Indemnitee desire to set forth the terms by which the Company shall provide indemnification (including advancement of Expenses) against any and all liabilities asserted against Indemnitee in any and all Proceedings to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law. For and in consideration of the premises and the covenants contained herein, the Company and Indemnitee do hereby covenant and agree as follows:

1. Certain Definitions . For purposes of this Agreement, the following definitions apply herein:

(a) “Disinterested Directors” shall mean directors who are not, at the time, parties to the Proceeding for which indemnification is sought.

(b) “Expenses” includes, without limitation, expenses of investigations, judicial or administrative proceedings or appeals, attorneys’ fees, witness fees and expenses, excise taxes assessed on the Indemnitee with respect to any employee benefit plan, fees and expenses of accountants and other advisors, retainers and disbursements and advances thereon, and any amounts expended in asserting a claim for indemnification.

(c) “Liabilities” includes any judgments, fines, penalties, amounts paid in settlement, or other liabilities incurred or paid by Indemnitee or on Indemnitee’s behalf in connection with a Proceeding.


(c) “Interested Directors” shall mean directors who are, at the time, parties to the Proceeding for which indemnification is sought.

(d) “Proceeding” means any threatened, pending, or completed action, suit, proceeding or appeal, whether civil, criminal, administrative, or investigative and whether formal or informal, including proceedings by or in the right of the Company.

2. Continued Service . Nothing contained in this Agreement is intended to create any right to continued employment by Indemnitee.

3. Indemnification and Advancement . The Company shall indemnify and make advances to Indemnitee as follows:

(a) Except as provided under Section 3(d), the Company shall indemnify Indemnitee in the event that he is or was a party to or is or was threatened to be made a party to, or otherwise involved in, any Proceeding by reason of the fact that he is or was an officer or director of the Company, or is or was serving the Company or any other legal entity (including any employee benefit plan) in any capacity at the request of the Company, against all Liabilities and Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him or on his behalf in connection with such Proceeding. Indemnitee shall be eligible for indemnification for claims under this Section 3(a), subject to a determination of such eligibility in accordance with Section 4. Indemnitee shall be indemnified to the fullest extent allowed by Delaware law pursuant to a determination in accordance with Section 4 that (i) Indemnitee acted in good faith and in a manner Indemnitee reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Company and (ii) with respect to any criminal Proceeding, Indemnitee had no reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful, except to the extent that indemnification otherwise is expressly prohibited by applicable law (including without limitation pursuant to Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange

 

2


Act of 1934, as amended). Service as a director, officer, employee or agent of the Company or any other legal entity, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise, controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Company shall be deemed service at the request of the Company. The termination of a Proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent shall not, of itself, create a presumption that Indemnitee acted in such a manner as to make him ineligible for indemnification under this Section. Without limiting the foregoing, the Company shall indemnify Indemnitee against all Expenses incurred by him in connection with a Proceeding to which he is or was a party because he is or was a director or officer of the Company to the extent he prevails on the merits or otherwise.

(b) Any indemnification under Section 3(a) (unless otherwise ordered by a court) shall be made by the Company only as authorized in the specific case upon a determination (in accordance with Section 4) that indemnification of Indemnitee is proper in the circumstances because he has met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in Section 3(a). Such indemnification shall be made within 5 days after the determination (in accordance with Section 4) that indemnification of the Indemnitee is proper.

(c) Except as provided under Section 3(d), unless a determination has been made in accordance with Section 4 that the facts then known to those making the determination would not permit indemnification, Expenses incurred by Indemnitee in defending a Proceeding to which Indemnitee is or was a party or is or was threatened to be made a party by reason of the fact that he is or was an officer or director of the Company or any other legal entity controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Company, or is or was serving the Company or any other legal entity in any capacity at the request of the Company, shall be paid by the Company in advance of the final disposition of such Proceeding within 30 days of the receipt by the Company of a written statement by Indemnitee

 

3


(“ Undertaking ”) requesting advancement of Expenses and averring that Indemnitee (i) in good faith believes that he has met the standard of conduct required for indemnification set forth in Section 3(a), (ii) has reasonably incurred or reasonably expects to incur such Expenses in defending the Proceeding, and (iii) undertakes to repay such amount if it shall ultimately be determined that he is not entitled to be indemnified by the Company under this Agreement or otherwise. The Undertaking shall be an unlimited, unsecured general obligation of Indemnitee and shall be accepted by the Company without reference to Indemnitee’s ability to make repayment. Any subsequent requests for advancement of Expenses shall be pursuant to the Undertaking and shall be paid by the Company within 30 days of receipt of such requests.

(d) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, the Company shall not be obligated to indemnify Indemnitee with respect to any Liability or to pay or advance Expenses in any Proceeding commenced by Indemnitee against the Company, other than a Proceeding commenced to enforce a claim for indemnification or a claim for advancement of Expenses, unless, prior to the initiation of such Proceeding, the initiation of such Proceeding is approved by the Board of Directors by a majority vote of a quorum consisting of Disinterested Directors, or, if such quorum cannot be obtained, by a majority vote of a committee duly designated by the Board of Directors (in which designation Interested Directors may participate), consisting solely of two or more Disinterested Directors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company shall not be required to advance any expenses to a person against whom the Company directly brings a claim, in a proceeding, alleging that such person has breached his or her duty of loyalty to the Company, committed an act or omission not in good faith or that involves intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, or derived an improper personal benefit from a transaction.

 

4


(e) The Company shall not be liable to indemnify the Indemnitee under this Agreement for any amounts paid in settlement of any Proceeding effected without its written consent. The Company shall not settle any Proceeding in any manner that would impose any penalty or limitation on or disclosure obligation with respect to the Indemnitee without the Indemnitee’s written consent. Neither the Company nor the Indemnitee will unreasonably withhold its consent to any proposed settlement.

(f) The rights to indemnification and advancement of Liabilities and Expenses provided by this Agreement shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which Indemnitee may be entitled under any statute (including without limitation under Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law), articles of incorporation, certificate of incorporation, bylaw, insurance policy, agreement, vote of shareholders or Disinterested Directors or otherwise, both as to action in his official capacity and as to action in another capacity while serving as an officer of the Company, or serving the Company or any other legal entity in any capacity at the request of the Company, and shall continue after Indemnitee has ceased to be a director or officer of the Company, or ceased serving the Company or any other legal entity in any capacity at the request of the Company, and whether or not he is serving as a director or officer of the Company, or serving the Company or any other legal entity in any capacity at the request of the Company, at the time any Liability or Expense is incurred, and shall inure to the benefit of his heirs, executors and administrators.

 

5


4. Determination of Right to Indemnification .

(a) For purposes of making the determination in a specific case under Sections 3(a) and 3(b) whether indemnification is permissible, the determination shall be made as authorized from time to time by general or specific action of the Board of Directors, which action may be taken before or after a claim for indemnification is made.

(b) For the purposes of making the determination under Section 4(a), if a majority of the directors of the Company has changed after the date of the alleged conduct giving rise to such a claim for indemnification, such determination and evaluation shall, at the option of Indemnitee, be made by special legal counsel selected by Indemnitee and subject to the approval of the Board of Directors, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.

(c) The special legal counsel may be outside counsel currently or previously retained by the Company, provided that such counsel (i) has not provided legal services to Indemnitee, (ii) does not regularly advise the directors or senior management of the Company with respect to their actions, duties and responsibilities and (iii) has not provided legal services to the Company or Indemnitee with respect to the transaction or matter out of which the Proceeding arose.

(d) The reasonableness of Expenses may be determined in accordance with this Section 4.

5. Notice and Other Indemnification and Advancement Procedures .

(a) Promptly after receipt by Indemnitee of notice of the commencement of or the threat of commencement of any Proceeding, Indemnitee shall, if Indemnitee believes that indemnification or advancement with respect thereto may be sought from the Company and Indemnitee wishes to seek such indemnification or advancement, notify the Company of the existence of such Proceeding. The Undertaking identified in Section 3(c) shall constitute such notice. Failure to submit notice to the Company as

 

6


provided herein shall not prevent Indemnitee from claiming indemnification or advancement under this Agreement, unless such failure impairs the Company’s ability to defend Indemnitee in the Proceeding.

(b) To make a claim for indemnification, Indemnitee shall submit to the Board of Directors a written statement requesting indemnification (the “ Indemnification Statement ”). If Indemnitee is requesting advances or reimbursement of Expenses in connection with a Proceeding for which indemnification is sought, the Indemnification Statement shall include or be accompanied by the Undertaking required pursuant to Section 3(c). Submission of the Indemnification Statement shall create a rebuttable presumption that Indemnitee is entitled to indemnification under this Agreement. A specific determination that Indemnitee is entitled to indemnification shall be made in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 within 60 days after submission of the Indemnification Statement, unless a determination is made in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 that indemnification is not permissible under Section 3(a) (any such matter, an “ Excluded Claim ”). If a determination in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 has not been made within 60 days after receipt by the Company of the Indemnification Statement, the requisite determination of entitlement to indemnification shall be deemed to have been made and the Indemnitee shall be absolutely entitled to such indemnification, absent actual and material fraud in the request for indemnification, or unless and until a court shall have determined that such liability relates to an Excluded Claim.

(c) If, at the time of the receipt of an Undertaking or Indemnification Statement, the Company has D&O Insurance (as defined in Section 8(a) below) in effect, the Company shall give prompt notice of the commencement of any Proceeding to the insurers in accordance with the procedures set forth in the D&O Insurance policies. The Company shall thereafter take all necessary

 

7


or desirable action to cause such insurers to pay, on behalf of Indemnitee, all amounts payable as a result of such Proceeding in accordance with the terms of such policies.

(d) In the event the Company shall be obligated to indemnify or pay the Expenses of any Proceeding against Indemnitee, the Company, if appropriate, shall be entitled to assume the defense of such Proceeding upon the delivery to Indemnitee of written notice of its election so to do, with counsel selected by the Company and approved by Indemnitee, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. After delivery of such notice, approval of such counsel by Indemnitee and the retention of such counsel by the Company, the Company will not be liable to Indemnitee under this Agreement for any fees of counsel subsequently incurred by Indemnitee with respect to the same Proceeding, provided that (i) Indemnitee shall have the right to employ his own counsel in any such Proceeding at Indemnitee’s expense; and (ii) if (A) the employment of counsel by Indemnitee has been previously authorized by the Company, (B) Indemnitee shall have reasonably concluded that there may be a conflict of interest between the Company and Indemnitee in the conduct of any such defense or (C) the Company shall not, in fact, have employed counsel to assume the defense of such Proceeding, the fees and expenses of Indemnitee’s counsel shall be at the expense of the Company. Subject to Section 3(e), Indemnitee shall cooperate with all reasonable requests of the Company (at the Company’s expense) in defending or settling a claim. If the Company elects not to assume the defense of a Proceeding for which the Indemnitee is entitled to indemnification hereunder, the Indemnitee shall be entitled to have the reasonable fees and expenses of one law firm reimbursed or paid by the Company.

 

8


6. Partial Indemnification and Advancement . If the Indemnitee is entitled under any provision of this Agreement to indemnification or advancement by the Company for some or a portion of the Liabilities or Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection with a Proceeding, but not, however, for all of the total amount thereof, the Company shall nevertheless indemnify or make advances to the Indemnitee for the portion of such Liabilities and Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him to which the Indemnitee is entitled.

7. Expenses to Enforce Agreement . In the event that the Indemnitee is a party to or intervenes in any Proceeding in which the validity or enforceability of this Agreement is at issue or seeks an adjudication or award in arbitration to enforce his rights under, or to recover damages for breach of, this Agreement, the Indemnitee, if he prevails in whole or in part in such action, shall be entitled to recover from the Company and shall be indemnified by the Company against any actual Expenses incurred by him.

8. Liability Insurance .

(a) The Company hereby covenants and agrees that, so long as Indemnitee shall continue to serve as a director or officer of the Company, or to serve the Company or any other legal entity in any capacity at the request of the Company, and thereafter so long as Indemnitee shall be subject to any possible Proceeding by reason of the fact that Indemnitee was a director or officer of the Company, or served the Company or any other legal entity in any capacity at the request of the Company, the Company, subject to Section 8(c), shall promptly obtain and maintain in full force and effect directors’ and officers’ liability insurance (“ D&O Insurance ”) in reasonable amounts from established and reputable insurers.

 

9


(b) In all policies of D&O Insurance, Indemnitee shall be named as an insured in such a manner as to provide Indemnitee the same rights and benefits as are accorded to the most favorably insured of the Company’s directors and/or officers.

(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company shall have no obligation to obtain or maintain D&O Insurance if the Company determines in good faith that such insurance is not reasonably available, the premium costs for such insurance are disproportionate to the amount of coverage provided or the coverage provided by such insurance is limited by exclusions so as to provide an insufficient benefit.

9. Merger, Consolidation or Sale of Assets . In the event that the Company shall be a constituent corporation in a consolidation or merger, whether the Company is the resulting or surviving corporation or is absorbed, Indemnitee shall stand in the same position under this Agreement with respect to the resulting, surviving or changed corporation as he would have with respect to the Company if its separate existence had continued. The Board of Directors of the Company shall use its best efforts to make any sale or transfer of substantially all of the assets of the Company contingent upon the acquiring party or a parent of the acquiring party expressly assuming or guaranteeing the Company’s obligations under this Agreement.

10. Subrogation . In the event of payment under this Agreement or pursuant to Article XI of the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation, the Company shall be subrogated to the extent of such payment to all of the rights of recovery of Indemnitee, who shall execute all documents required and shall do all acts that may be necessary to secure such rights and to enable the Company effectively to bring suit to enforce such rights.

 

10


11. Severability . If any provision of this Agreement or the application of any provision hereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the remainder of this Agreement and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected.

12. Governing Law and Consent to Jurisdiction . This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware without regard to its conflict of laws rules. The Company and Indemnitee each hereby irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Delaware for all purposes in connection with any action or Proceeding which arises out of or relates to this Agreement and agree that any action instituted under this Agreement shall be brought only in the state courts of the State of Delaware.

13. Modification, Survival . This Agreement may be modified only by an instrument in writing signed by both parties hereto. The provisions of this Agreement shall survive the termination of Indemnitee’s service as a director or officer of the Company or service of the Company or any other legal entity in any capacity at the request of the Company.

14. Successors and Assigns . This Agreement shall be binding upon all successors and assigns of the Company and any successors by merger or otherwise by operation of law, and shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the heirs, executors and administrators of Indemnitee.

15. Counterparts . This Agreement may be executed in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which taken together shall constitute but one and the same instrument.

16. Headings; References; Pronouns . The headings of the Sections of this Agreement are inserted for convenience only and shall not be deemed to constitute part of this Agreement or to affect the construction thereof. References herein to Section numbers are to Sections of this Agreement. All pronouns and any variations thereof shall be deemed to refer to the masculine, feminine, neuter, singular or plural as appropriate.

 

11


17. Notices . All notices, requests, demands or other communications hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly given and received (i) if delivered by hand, on the date so delivered, or (ii) if sent by overnight courier, on the next business day after being so sent, or (iii) if sent by facsimile, on the day so sent:

 

(a)    If to the Indemnitee, to:    ________________________________________
      ________________________________________
      ________________________________________
      Attn: ___________________________________
      Facsimile number: ________________________
(b)    If to the Company, to:    MercadoLibre, Inc.
      ________________________________________
      ________________________________________
      ________________________________________
      Attn: ___________________________________
      Facsimile number: ________________________

or to such other address as may be furnished to the Indemnitee by the Company or to the Company by the Indemnitee, as the case may be.

 

12


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have duly executed this Agreement effective as of the date first written above.

 

      MERCADOLIBRE, INC.
Attest:  

 

    By:  

 

  Secretary     Name:  
      Title:  
      INDEMNITEE
     

 

      [Name]

 

13


FORM OF REQUEST FOR INDEMNIFICATION

AND ADVANCEMENT AND UNDERTAKING

I,                              , hereby request that MercadoLibre, Inc. (the “Company”) provide me with indemnification, including advances to cover and reimbursement of my Expenses (as defined in the Indemnification Agreement referred to below) with respect to [DESCRIBE PROCEEDING(S)] and any litigation or other matters related to these investigations or arising from or related to the facts and circumstances that are the subject of the investigations (collectively, the “Proceeding”). In that regard, as required by the terms of that certain Indemnification Agreement, dated as of the      day of                      , 200    , by and between the Company and myself (the “Indemnification Agreement”) and by Delaware General Corporation Law, I hereby aver that

(i) I in good faith believe that I have met the standard of conduct required for indemnification set forth in Section 3(a) of the Indemnification Agreement;

(ii) I have reasonably incurred or reasonably expect to incur the Expenses for which I am seeking advances or reimbursement hereunder in defending the Proceeding; and

(iii) If it shall ultimately be determined that I am not entitled to be indemnified by the Company under the Indemnification Agreement or otherwise, I hereby undertake to repay to the Company any amount advanced or reimbursed to me pursuant to the Indemnification Agreement.

This Request for Indemnification and Advancement and Undertaking is delivered this      day of                      , 200    .

 

 

 

[Name]

Accepted this      day of                      , 200    :

 

  MERCADOLIBRE, INC.
  By:  

 

  Name:  
  Title:  

Exhibit 10.02

QUOTA PURCHASE AGREEMENT

among:

M ERCADO L IBRE , I NC .

a Delaware corporation;

MARCOS EDUARDO GALPERIN

an individual;

MATTHEW BANNICK

an individual;

and

E B AY I NC .

a Delaware corporation

 


Dated as of September 24, 2001


T ABLE O F C ONTENTS

 

          P AGE

S ECTION 1. S ALE AND P URCHASE OF Q UOTAS ; C LOSING

   1

      1.1  

   Sale and Purchase of Quotas    1

      1.2  

   Consideration    2

      1.3  

   Closing    2

      1.4  

   Actions at Closing    2

      1.5  

   Actions Following the Closing; Post-Closing Covenants    3

S ECTION 2. R EPRESENTATIONS AND W ARRANTIES OF S ELLER

   4

      2.1  

   Organization and Standing; No Subsidiaries    4

      2.2  

   Capitalization, Etc    4

      2.3  

   Authority; Corporate Records; Binding Nature of Agreement; No Consents; No Violation    5

      2.4  

   Financial Statements    5

      2.5  

   Bank Accounts    6

      2.6  

   Taxes    6

      2.7  

   Contracts    6

      2.8  

   Assets    7

      2.9  

   Permits    7

      2.10

   Compliance with Legal Requirements    8

      2.11

   Insurance    8

      2.12

   Employee Matters    8

      2.13

   Intellectual Property Rights    9

      2.14

   Real Property    10

      2.15

   Personal Property    10

      2.16

   Environmental Matters    11

      2.17

   Computer Systems    11

      2.18

   Absence of Material Changes    11

      2.19

   Legal Proceedings    12

      2.20

   Related Parties    13

 

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T ABLE O F C ONTENTS

( CONTINUED )

 

          P AGE

      2.21

   Bankruptcy    13

      2.22

   Certain Payments    13

      2.23

   Brokers    13

      2.24

   Disclosure    13

      2.25

   No User Data Transfer    13

S ECTION 3. R EPRESENTATIONS AND W ARRANTIES OF P URCHASER

   14

      3.1  

   Organization and Standing; Authority; Binding Nature of Agreement    14

      3.2  

   No Conflicts    14

      3.3  

   Compliance with Consumer Defense and Protection Code and Other Legal Requirements    14

      3.4  

   Access    14

      3.5  

   Other    14

S ECTION 4. I NDEMNIFICATION

   15

      4.1  

   Indemnification by Seller    15

      4.2  

   Indemnification by Purchaser    16

      4.3  

   Survival    16

      4.4  

   Contribution    16

      4.5  

   Applicability and Payment    17

      4.6  

   Notice    17

      4.7  

   Settlement of Claims    17

      4.8  

   Defense of Claims    17

      4.9  

   Reports of Satisfaction or Settlement of Claims    18

4.10

   Limitations on Indemnification    18
   (a) Limitations on Purchaser’s Right to Indemnification    18
   (b) Limitations on Seller’s Right to Indemnification    18

4.11

   Expiration of Representations, Warranties and Covenants    18

4.12

   Julien Turn    19

S ECTION 5. M ISCELLANEOUS P ROVISIONS

   19

      5.1  

   Currency    19

 

ii


T ABLE O F C ONTENTS

( CONTINUED )

 

          P AGE

      5.2  

   Compliance with Laws    19

      5.3  

   Further Assurances    19

      5.4  

   Notices    19

      5.5  

   Counterparts    20

      5.6  

   Governing Law; Venue    20

      5.7  

   Consultation    21

      5.8  

   Severability    21

      5.9  

   Amendments    21

5.10

   Confidentiality of Terms    21

5.11

   Entire Agreement    21

 

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QUOTA PURCHASE AGREEMENT

T HIS Q UOTA P URCHASE A GREEMENT (this Agreement ) is entered into as of September  2 4 , 2001, by and among M ERCADO L IBRE , I NC ., a Delaware corporation ( Purchaser ), Marcos Eduardo Galperin, an individual, Matthew Bannick, an individual, and e B AY I NC ., a Delaware corporation ( Seller ). Capitalized terms not otherwise defined have the meanings set forth in Exhibit A.

R ECITALS

 

  A. Immediately prior to the Closing of the transaction contemplated herein, Seller will be the holder of Nineteen Million One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Nine (19,001,999) quotas of, iBazar Com Ltda., a Brazilian limited liability company organized and existing under the laws of the Federative Republic of Brazil, duly registered with the Registry of Commerce of the State of Rio de Janeiro under NIRE No. 3320659653-4, and enrolled with the Federal Corporate Taxpayer Registry CNPJ/MF under No. 03.499.243/0001-04, with head offices at Rua da Assembléia No. 10, Grupo 4011, in the City of Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (the Company ), and Matthew Bannick will be the holder of one (1) quota of the Company, collectively constituting one hundred percent (100%) of all of the outstanding quotas of the Company (the “ Quotas ”) at the Closing.

 

  B. Seller wishes to sell its Nineteen Million One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Nine (19,001,999) Quotas of the Company, to Purchaser on the terms set forth in this Agreement, and Purchaser wishes to purchase the same from Seller on the terms set forth in this Agreement.

 

  C. Matthew Bannick wishes to sell his single Quota to Marcos Eduardo Galperin on the terms set forth in this Agreement, and Marcos Eduardo Galperin wishes to purchase the same from Matthew Bannick on the terms set forth in this Agreement.

A GREEMENT

Purchaser, Marcos Galperin, Matthew Bannick and Seller, intending to be legally bound, agree as follows:

SECTION 1. S ALE AND P URCHASE OF Q UOTAS ; C LOSING

1.1 Sale and Purchase of Quotas . At the Closing (as defined below), Seller shall sell, assign, transfer and deliver the Quotas to Purchaser, and Purchaser shall purchase the Quotas from Seller, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in this Agreement.

1.2 Consideration . The consideration for the Quotas shall be the issuance to the Seller of Six Million Nine Hundred Eighty Three Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy Eight (6,983,878) shares of the Purchaser’s Series E-1 Preferred Stock and One Million One Hundred Forty Two Thousand One Hundred Eighty Four (1,142,184) shares of the Purchaser’s Series E-2 Preferred Stock

 

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(collectively, the Series E Preferred Stock ), representing in the aggregate 19.5% of the Purchaser’s fully diluted share capital after such issuance of the Series E Preferred Stock, pursuant to that certain Securities Purchase Agreement between Purchaser and Seller dated as of even date herewith (the Securities Purchase Agreement ), and the execution, delivery and performance by Purchaser of the other Documents, including, without limitation, the Strategic Alliance Agreement between Purchaser and Seller.

1.3 Closing. The closing of the sale of the Quotas to Purchaser (the Closing ) shall take place at the offices of Hunton & Williams, at 2:00 p.m. (local time) on September 24, 2001, or such other place or time as the parties may jointly designate. The date on which the Closing actually takes place shall be referred to as the Closing Date .”

1.4 Actions at Closing. At the Closing:

(a) Seller shall sell, assign and transfer, or shall cause to be sold, assigned and transferred to Purchaser, free and clear of all Encumbrances, an aggregate of Nineteen Million One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Nine (19,001,999) Quotas of the capital of the Company. Matthew Bannick shall sell, assign and transfer, or shall cause to be sold, assigned and transferred to Marcos Eduardo Galperin, free and clear of all Encumbrances, a single Quota of the capital of the Company. The total of Nineteen Million Two Thousand Quotas represents 100% of the capital of the Company.

(b) The Parties will execute, or cause to be executed, six original copies of the Sixth Amendment to the Articles of Association of the Company in the form attached as Exhibit B (the Amended Articles ), which shall ratify the appointment of Purchaser as managing quotaholder of the Company and the delegation of its managing powers to Stelleo Passos Tolda, and, bearing the duly witnessed signatures of the following:

(i) Seller, by Pedro Paulo Muanis under power of attorney dated August 23, 2001, as the holder of Nineteen Million One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Nine (19,001,999) Quotas prior to the transfer of all such Quotas to Purchaser, and evidencing the transfer of all such quotas to Purchaser pursuant to this Agreement;

(ii) Matthew Bannick, by Pedro Paulo Muanis under power of attorney dated August 14, 2001, as the holder of one (1) Quota prior to the transfer of such Quota to Marcos Eduardo Galperin, evidencing the transfer of such Quota to the same, and containing mutual releases of both transferor and transferee;

(iii) Purchaser, by Leila Real Vianna Gonçalves under power of attorney dated August 28, 2001, as the holder of Nineteen Million One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Nine (19,001,999) Quotas of the Company after the transfer described in Section 1.4(b)(i); and

(iv) Marcos Eduardo Galperin, by Leila Real Vianna Goçalves under power of attorney dated September 21, 1999, as the holder of one (1) Quota of the Company after the transfer described in Section 1.4(b)(ii).

 

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(c) The parties shall execute and deliver to each other the Securities Purchase Agreement and the other Documents.

(d) Seller shall deliver to Purchaser a certificate from the Registry of Commerce for the State of Rio de Janeiro (“ certidão simplificada ”) for the Company dated within ten (10) business days of the Closing.

(e) Seller shall deliver to Purchaser an opinion of US counsel in substantially the form attached as Exhibit C ;

(f) Seller shall arrange for iBazar S.A. to deliver to Purchaser the trademark license agreement relating to the trademarks described in Schedule 2.13(b), in substantially the form attached as Exhibit D .

1.5 Actions Following the Closing; Post-Closing Covenants.

(a) Filing of Amended Articles. Within ten (10) business days after the Closing Date, Purchaser shall cause three original, fully executed copies of the Amended Articles to be filed with the Registry of Commerce in the State of Rio de Janeiro and shall provide to Seller evidence of such filing in form and substance satisfactory to Seller’s counsel. If such evidence is not provided by that time, Seller may, at its option, cause three original, fully executed copies of the Amended Articles to be filed with the Registry of Commerce in the State of Rio de Janeiro and shall provide to Purchaser evidence of such filing in form and substance satisfactory to Purchaser’s counsel. In case the Registry of Commerce of the State of Rio de Janeiro demands that any provisions of the Amended Articles be modified, the Parties shall cooperate fully to meet the such demands to the extent it does not conflict with any provision hereof.

(b) Competition Law Filings. Immediately following the Closing, Purchaser shall file, or cause to be filed, all appropriate documents, and take any and allappropriate actions, to obtain the approval of the transactions contemplated herein by any Brazilian governmental authority, including, without limitation, CADE . Seller shall cooperate in good faith with Purchaser in connection with Purchaser’s performance of its obligations under this Section 1.5(b).

(c) Compliance with Consumer Defense and Protection Code and Other Legal Requirements. After the Closing, Purchaser shall ensure (i) that any transfer, assignment or transmittal of data relating to any third party (including, without limitation, the registered users) by the Company to the Purchaser or any other Person, and any use of such data by the Company and the Purchaser, is effected in full compliance with all applicable Legal Requirements, including, without limitation, the Brazilian Consumer Defense and Protection Code (Law n. 8078/90) and any Legal Requirements relating to notification of consumers, registered users, owners or originators of data, or any other Person; and (ii) full compliance with any Legal Requirements relating to the amendment, correction, rectification, deletion or other changes to such data upon the request of the Person(s) to whom such data refers, relates or belongs, or from whom such data originated. For the purposes of this Section 1.5(c), the term “Legal Requirements” shall include the obligations by which the Company is bound under the “commitment note” relating to the user agreement as posted on the Company’s website (http://www.ibazar.com.br/charte.html).

 

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SECTION 2. R EPRESENTATIONS AND W ARRANTIES OF S ELLER

Except as set forth in a Schedule to this Agreement bearing the number of the section or subsection hereof to which exception is taken, Seller represents and warrants as follows, to and for the benefit of Purchaser, as of the date hereof:

2.1 Organization and Standing; No Subsidiaries. The Company is duly incorporated and validly existing under the laws of the Federative Republic of Brazil, with all requisite power and authority to conduct lawfully its business as presently conducted (including, without limitation, to own and use its assets as presently owned and used), and to perform all of its obligations under all its Contracts. All corporate actions taken by the Company have been taken in full compliance with applicable Legal Requirements. The Company has no subsidiaries and owns no equity in any other Entity.

2.2 Capitalization, Etc.

(a) The capital of the Company consists of Nineteen Million Two Thousand (19,002,000) quotas having a par value of one Real (R$1.00) each (previously defined as the “Quotas”). Immediately prior to the filing of the Amended Articles with the Registry of Commerce as contemplated herein, the capital of the Company, not all of which is fully paid-in as described in Section 2.2(b), is held as follows: Seller is the holder of Nineteen Million One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Nine (19,001,999) quotas of the Company and Matthew Bannick is the holder of one (1) quota of the Company

(b) Upon the effective filing of the Fifth Amendment to the Articles of Association with the Registry of Commerce in the State of Rio de Janeiro, each of Matthew Bannick and Seller will be the sole and exclusive holder of that number of quotas of the Company indicated in Sections 1.4(b)(ii) and (i), respectively, and shall have the sole, entire and unfettered right to vote and dispose of any and all Quotas. Upon the consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, including without limitation the filing of the Amended Articles as contemplated by Section 1.5(a), Purchaser shall acquire good and valid title to the Quotas, free and clear of any Encumbrances. With the exception of the customary powers of attorney identified in Schedule 2.2, there are no voting trusts, shareholders agreements, proxies or other agreements, arrangements or understandings in effect with respect to the voting or transfer of any of the Quotas. All of the Quotas have been duly authorized and validly issued in full compliance with all applicable securities laws and other applicable Legal Requirements, and R$ 14,874,712.51 are fully paid-in, with the balance to be paid-in by May 16, 2003. Except as described in Schedule 2.2(b), all foreign investment as defined by Brazilian Law No. 4,131 is duly registered with the Central Bank of Brazil, subject to the updating of the registration with the Central Bank of Brazil of Seller as the current foreign investor in the Company. Purchaser acknowledges that the capital of the Company has not been fully paid-in as of the Closing Date, and that, following the Closing Date, neither Seller nor any other quota holder of the Company prior to the Closing Date shall have any obligation to pay-in any further capital to the Company.

 

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2.3 Authority; Corporate Records; Binding Nature of Agreement; No Consents; No Violation.

(a) Seller is duly incorporated, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the State of Delaware. Seller has the absolute and unrestricted corporate right, power and authority to enter into and to perform its obligations under this Agreement; and the execution, delivery and performance by Seller of this Agreement have been duly authorized by all necessary action on the part of Seller and no further action is required by Seller.

(b) The Company’s corporate records, including, without limitation, its articles of association and amendments thereto, minute books, quotaholders accounts and, generally, all registers and corporate documents required to be created, kept, maintained, amended, and/or updated by applicable Legal Requirements, have been so created, kept, maintained, amended, and/or updated by the Company in all material respects with such Legal Requirements, and are accurate, up to date, and complete in all material respects.

(c) The filings of the Company relating to its corporate status with any relevant governmental agency pursuant to applicable Legal Requirements are complete and up to date in all material respects.

(d) This Agreement has been duly executed by Seller and, when delivered in accordance with the terms hereof, and assuming the due authorization, execution and delivery by Purchaser, shall constitute the legal, valid and binding obligation of Seller, enforceable against Seller in accordance with its terms, except (i) as limited by applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium or other laws of general application affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights and (ii) as limited by general principles of equity that restrict the availability of equitable remedies.

(e) Neither the execution and delivery by Seller of this Agreement, nor the performance by Seller of its obligations hereunder, including, without limitation, the consummation of the transfer of the Quotas as contemplated hereunder require the consent or approval of, or filing with, any Person or any authority, provided, however, that the effectiveness of the transfer of the Quotas as contemplated hereunder as against third parties requires the timely filing of the Amended Articles as contemplated in Section 1.5(a).

(f) The execution, delivery or performance of this Agreement or any other agreement or transaction contemplated herein, will not (i) result in a violation or breach of the terms, conditions or provisions of, constitute a default under, or result in the termination of, the articles of association of the Company and any amendments thereto or any Contract under which the Company is bound, (ii) violate or affect the validity of any Company Permit, (iii) result in the creation or execution of an Encumbrance upon the assets or the shares or the Company, or (iii) violate any applicable Legal Requirements.

2.4 Financial Statements.

(a) The unaudited balance sheet, income statement and certain notes thereto of the Company as of August 31, 2001 attached hereto as Schedule 2.4 (the Financial Statements ) have been prepared in accordance with (to the Seller’s Knowledge)

 

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US GAAP in accordance with past practice, are true and accurate and set out a fair view of the results of operations and of the financial position of the Company as of August 31, 2001. All liabilities of the Company are properly reserved against in the Financial Statements in accordance with (to the Seller’s Knowledge) US GAAP.

(b) The Company has no indebtedness, liability, claim or obligation of any nature, fixed or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, secured or unsecured of a type that would be recorded in the Company’s financial statements if applied on a consistent basis, except (i) liabilities specifically described and reflected at their precise accounting value in the Financial Statements, (ii) fixed liabilities incurred in the ordinary course of business on commercially reasonable terms since August 31, 2001, (iii) fixed commercial obligations to perform pursuant to executory Contracts entered into in the ordinary course of business on commercially reasonable terms, consistent with past practices, and not in default, (iv) liabilities of less than US$10,000, and not more than US$50,000 in the aggregate, and (v) liabilities specifically disclosed and reflected at their precise accounting value in Schedule 2.4(b); and to the Company’s Knowledge, there is no existing condition, situation or set of circumstances which will result in any such liabilities except for the liabilities identified in this Section 2.4(b).

(c) With the exception of the items that are mentioned expressly and specifically in the Financial Statements, the Company does not have or has not consented to, as the case may be, any off balance-sheet commitments, sureties, guarantees, letters of credit, comfort letters or similar commitments.

2.5 Bank Accounts. Schedule 2.5 sets forth a complete and accurate list of all the bank accounts of the Company, and of the current powers of attorney and powers of signature in respect to such bank accounts.

2.6 Taxes. The Company has (i) filed or made when due all required Tax forms, declarations and statements, including, without limitation, those relating to corporate income, professional, and value added taxes, custom duties and charges, and social security contributions, which are correct and complete in all respects, (ii) fully paid when due, or reserved in the Financial Statements against all Taxes which it owed as of August 31, 2001 in accordance with (to the Seller’s Knowledge) US GAAP as consistently applied by the Company and applicable Legal Requirements, and (iii) retained copies of all written information or statements made to the tax authorities or, as the case may be, to any competent authority. The Financial Statements properly reflect any amount of unpaid Taxes of the Company due, accrued or otherwise attributable to the period ending August 31, 2001. Within the past three years, the Company has not been the subject of any investigation, audit or visit by any Tax authority and there has been no Tax reassessment of the Company.

2.7 Contracts.

(a) Schedule 2.7(a) contains an accurate and complete list of all contracts (other than employment agreements) to which the Company is a party or which have been notified in writing to the Company and by which any of its assets or properties are bound or affected and which (i) involve the obligation (including contingent obligations) to pay by or to the Company over the term of the contract, amounts in excess of $25,000 in the aggregate or (ii) may not be terminated without penalty exceeding $25,000 upon less than a sixty (60) days prior notice (the Contracts ).

 

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(b) To the Knowledge of Seller, all the Contracts are binding and enforceable according to their terms and Law by the Company in accordance with their respective terms.

(c) The Company is not in default in any material respect under any of its Contracts or in respect of any Contract and, to the Knowledge of the Seller, there is no basis for any valid claim of default or violation under any such Contract.

(d) No notice or other written communication alleging any actual, alleged or possible violation, breach or default under any Contract has been received by the Company. No other party to a Contract has requested that such Contract be amended or terminated.

(e) The Company is not a party to any Contract containing an undertaking on its part not to compete in any business, industry or geographical area or to comply with exclusivity provisions.

(f) Except as set forth in Schedule 2.7(f), all Contracts conform to, and were entered into in accordance with, applicable Legal Requirements in all material respects.

(g) None of the Contracts contains a clause allowing a person or legal entity other than the Company to terminate or modify such agreement because or due to the transfer of the quotas of the Company to Purchaser as contemplated by this Agreement.

(h) The Company is not a party to any joint venture or to any comparable arrangement involving sharing of profits or of liabilities.

2.8 Assets. The Company has good, valid and marketable, title to the assets that are owned by it and listed on Schedule 2.8 (excluding intellectual property, as to which a separate representation and warranty is made herein), free and clear of Encumbrances, and such assets validly used by the Company are sufficient for the operation of the Company as presently conducted. Except for normal wear and tear, all the buildings and equipment used by the Company are in a good state of operating condition and repair.

2.9 Permits. Schedule 2.9 sets forth an accurate and complete list of all Company Permits and includes the expiration date and renewal status of all such Company Permits. The Company Permits are sufficient for the operation of the business of the Company as presently conducted, in full compliance with applicable Legal Requirements, and: (i) all Company Permits are in full force and effect, (ii) any applications for renewal of any Permit due prior to the Closing Date have been or shall be timely filed prior to such Closing Date, (iii) no proceeding or other legal action to modify, suspend, revoke, withdraw, terminate or otherwise limit any such Company Permit is pending or, to the Knowledge of Seller, threatened, (iv) the Company has made all payments required to be made under all Company Permits, and has acted in full compliance with the terms and requirements of such Permits, (v) no event has occurred and no condition or circumstance exists that constitutes a violation or failure to comply with any Company Permit, and

 

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(vi) no administrative or governmental actions have been taken or, to the Knowledge of Seller, threatened in connection with the expiration, continuance or renewal of such Permits which could affect the ability of the Company to own any assets, to operate, use or maintain any assets or to conduct any of its operations in substantially the same manner in which such operations were conducted on the date hereof.

2.10 Compliance with Legal Requirements. The Company is in material compliance with all Legal Requirements applicable to it.

2.11 Insurance.

(a) Schedule 2.11(a) contains a complete and accurate list of the insurance policies that currently insure the assets or operations of the Company, and contains a description of the main features and of any unusual clause of such insurance policies (including a description of the insured risks and of the limits and franchises to any claim under the relevant insurance policy).

(b) All premiums due and payable regarding such policies are and/or have been fully paid, no such premiums are subject to retroactive adjustment, and such policies are, in respect of the nature of the risks insured against and the amount of coverage provided, in force.

(c) The Company (i) has not failed to give any notice or to present any claim under such insurance policies in a timely fashion, (ii) has not received any notification of the cancellation of any such policies or that any of them will not be renewed, (iii) has never been refused insurance for any reason, and has not, since January 1, 1999, incurred any liabilities with respect to risk insured in excess of its insurance coverage.

(d) Since January 1, 1999, the Company has not received from any of its past or present insurance carriers a notice of denial of coverage, or a notice reserving the insurer’s rights under the policy, including the right to deny coverage.

2.12 Employee Matters.

(a) Schedule 2.12(a) contains a list of all employees and officers of the Company as at the date hereof. Such list indicates such employees’ current and committed future (if any) Compensation, and any current or future liability or commitment of the Company towards such employee or officer more favorable than the requirements of applicable Legal Requirements or of any applicable collective bargaining agreement. Compensation shall include the employee or officer’s gross annual compensation, whether in the form of salaries, commissions, profit sharing, vacation pay, or other supplemental advantages and compensation. None of the employees or officers mentioned above has notified the Company of his or her intention to resign from such employee’s duties or to terminate such employee’s employment agreement.

(b) The standard employment agreements of the Company are attached hereto as Schedule 2.12(b). That schedule also lists (i) any employment contract that differs in any material way from the provisions of the Company’s standard employment

 

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contracts, (ii) any arrangements involving loans or guarantees given by the Company to or for any employee (indicating the amount involved), and (iii) any arrangements involving any indebtedness of the Company to any employee other than accrued salaries, bonuses, vacation time, and expenses (indicating the amount involved).

(c) There are no collective bargaining agreements applicable to the Company.

(d) The Company is not experiencing, and has not experienced in the past, any strikes, slowdowns, or other collective labor disputes, and, to the Seller’s Knowledge, none are expected.

(e) Except as set forth in Schedule 2.12(e), or referred to therein, no employee or officer of the Company has been granted any advantage, of any nature whatsoever, more favorable than the requirements of applicable Legal Requirements or of any applicable employment agreement. In particular, without limitation, the Company has no obligation toward any employee for a termination notice period or for a termination indemnity greater than the notice period and indemnity required by applicable Legal Requirements and by any applicable employment agreement.

(f) There are no health or life insurance, pension, retirement, bonus, incentive, profit-sharing, stock-option, warrants, insurance, severance or other employee benefit plans or arrangements, in which any employee of the Company participates (the Benefit Plans ) except those listed in Schedule 2.12(f), and except for Benefit Plans which are required by applicable Legal Requirements or any applicable employment agreement. The Company complies in all material respects with its obligations under applicable Legal Requirements and pursuant to any applicable employment agreement in connection with the Benefit Plans. None of the employees of the Company have been granted any existing rights to acquire any equity interests in the Company.

(g) All liabilities relating to the Benefit Plans as of June 30, 2001, including, without limitation, any retirement Benefit Plans, have been properly reserved against in the Financial Statements or are otherwise clearly and completely disclosed in the notes to the Financial Statements to the extent required by (to the Seller’s Knowledge) US GAAP. The sale of the quotas of the Company as contemplated herein will not create any liabilities under any Benefit Plans or any agreements with employees.

(h) There are no scheduled or agreed upon future increases in the amount of the Benefit Plans or of the Compensation of the employees and directors of the Company, other than those required by applicable Legal Requirements or by any applicable employment agreement.

2.13 Intellectual Property Rights.

(a) Schedule 2.13(a) sets forth a list of all Owned Intellectual Property. All Owned Intellectual Property is fully owned and, where applicable, validly registered in the name of the Company, free and clear of all Encumbrances. Except as set forth

 

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in Schedule 2.13(a), there exist no proceedings contesting the validity or enforceability of, or the right of the Company to use or otherwise exploit, the Owned Intellectual Property and, to the Seller’s Knowledge, no such proceedings are threatened. Except as set forth in Schedule 2.13(a) and to the Seller’s Knowledge, none of the Owned Intellectual Property is being infringed upon or appropriated by third parties. Except as set forth in Schedule 2.13(a), there are no geographic restrictions on the use by the Company of the Owned Intellectual Property. Schedule 2.13(a) also includes a list of all Intellectual Property Rights, if any, submitted for registration by the Company and rejected by the competent authority, if any.

(b) Schedule 2.13(b) sets forth all Licensed Intellectual Property. All rights to Licensed Intellectual Property have been granted pursuant to binding and enforceable (according to their terms and Law) license agreements. There exist no proceedings contesting the validity or enforceability of, or the right of the Company to use or otherwise exploit, the Licensed Intellectual Property pursuant to the applicable agreements and, to the Seller’s Knowledge, no such proceedings are threatened.

(c) Except as set forth in Schedule 2.13(c), neither the Company, nor any of its employees during the duration of their employment agreements, have infringed or are infringing any Intellectual Property Rights of a third party and, to the Seller’s Knowledge and except as set forth in Schedule 2.13(c), there is no outstanding claim made by any other third party against the Company, or its employees, for breach of any of such third party’s intellectual property rights.

(d) Except as set forth in Schedule 2.l3(d) and except for software installed by employees for their own use without knowledge of the Company, the Company owns or has obtained valid rights to use all software installed on any computer used or in connection with its business, and no software currently is installed on any such computer without the Company having obtained the right to so install such software.

(e) None of the employees of the Company owns any right in the Owned or Licensed Intellectual Property Rights.

(f) Except as set forth in Schedule 2.13(f), the Company owns or has obtained valid rights to use all content used on each of its web sites, and no third parties have any rights to the same.

2.14 Real Property. The Company owns no real property. Schedule 2.14 sets forth a list of all real property leased by the Company. The Company has valid leasehold interests in all of the real property listed in Schedule 2.14, and all leases and subleases listed therein are in full force and effect. The Company is not in default in any material respect under any of such leases or subleases. There are no leases of properties formerly held by the Company under which the Company has any actual or contingent liability.

2.15 Personal Property. The Company has good title or valid leasehold interests, in each instance free and clear of any rights in favor of third parties (except for those reflected in the Financial Statements) to the owned or leased tangible personal property and assets used by it in its business.

 

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2.16 Environmental Matters. The Company has complied in all material respects with all applicable environmental Legal Requirements. The Company has not received any notice from any person or entity relating to any actual, alleged or potential liability arising from such requirements.

2.17 Computer Systems. Except as set forth in Schedule 2.17, all computer systems used by the Company were acquired new and have not been reconditioned, have been properly used, maintained and serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and have at all material times functioned in a manner which would be satisfactory to a reasonably skilled person engaged in the same type of business. The Company has in place adequate backup arrangements designed to ensure continuance of its businesses without loss of customer data and without additional expense, in the event of computer hardware or software breakdown, malfunction or in the event of power failure. All applicable Taxes and import duties relating to the single server sold by iBazar SA to the Company have been paid in full by the Company.

2.18 Absence of Material Changes. Since July 31, 2001, the Company has not:

(a) suffered any material adverse change, whether or not caused by any deliberate act or omission which would affect its operations, assets, liabilities, or business prospects;

(b) issued or sold any debt securities;

(c) except as set forth in Schedule 2.18, incurred any liabilities, indebtedness, or obligations, or entered into any contract or agreement, except in the ordinary course of business and for amounts not exceeding, individually, $25,000, or $50,000 in the aggregate;

(d) paid any amount on any indebtedness except when due and in the ordinary course of business;

(e) forgiven, cancelled, released or reduced any debts or claims owed to the Company, except in the ordinary course of business and for amounts, in the aggregate, not exceeding $50,000;

(f) suffered any damage or destruction to, or loss of, any assets (whether or not covered by insurance), with a net book value in excess of $50,000 in the aggregate, and/or $25,000 on an individual basis;

(g) disposed of any assets with a net book value in excess of $50,000 in the aggregate, and/or $25,000 on an individual basis;

 

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(h) written up or written down the carrying book value of any of its significant assets (not including any depreciation resulting solely from the passage of time, consistent with past practices and in accordance with (to the Seller’s Knowledge) US GAAP);

(i) changed the costing system or depreciation methods of accounting for its assets;

(j) acquired and/or disposed of any interest in any corporation, partnership, joint venture or other entity;

(k) redeemed, purchased or otherwise acquired, or sold, granted or otherwise disposed of, directly or indirectly, any of its capital stock or securities or any rights to acquire such capital stock or securities, including stock options or warrants, or agreed to change the terms and conditions pertaining to the exercise of any such rights;

(1) modified or amended the terms of any of the Contracts or employment agreements, except for insignificant modifications or amendments incidental to renewals made in the ordinary course of business;

(m) settled any civil claim made or action commenced against the Company, except in the ordinary course of business, with the consent or on the advice of an insurance carrier (to the extent such claim is covered), and without admission of liability;

(n) settled, pleaded guilty to, paid a fine in respect of, or consented to the entry of any penalty, order, or injunction regarding, any criminal, penal, or administrative charges or proceedings filed or commenced against the Company;

(o) distributed or authorized the distribution of dividends;

(p) entered into any other commitment or transaction or experienced any other event that has, or is reasonably expected to have, a material adverse effect on the condition, operations, business, or future prospects of the Company; or

(q) sold or licensed any Intellectual Property Rights.

2.19 Legal Proceedings.

(a) Schedule 2.19(a) sets forth a true, complete and correct list of all unsettled legal claims, proceedings, arbitration, mediations, or investigations notified to the Company instituted or otherwise involving the Company (or any of its directors and/or officers acting in their official capacity), and of all legal actions, claims or demands, which, to the Seller’s Knowledge, could lead to material proceedings, arbitration, mediations or investigations against the Company (or any of its directors and/or officers acting in their official capacity), whether civil, criminal, regulatory, or administrative in nature (the Legal Proceedings ). The list in Schedule 2.19(a) sets forth the total alleged liability of the Company for each of the listed Legal Proceedings, together with a description of the nature of the Legal Proceedings and of the demands made by or against the third party.

 

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(b) The Company is not now, nor to Seller’s Knowledge is it reasonably expected to become, subject to any court, arbitral, or administrative order, injunction, decree, or decision the continued effect of which, or the default, violation or contempt of which could reasonably be expected to have an adverse effect on the operations or financial condition of the Company.

2.20 Related Parties. Except for debts for accrued salaries, bonuses, vacation time or expenses, the Company has no claims against, or debt to any Related Party and no Related Party has any claims against or owes money to the Company. Except as listed in Schedule 2.20, the Company has entered into no Contract, transaction or business dealing with any Related Party which is still in force.

2.21 Bankruptcy. The Company has never been subject to any bankruptcy, dissolution, liquidation, temporary stay of proceedings or similar procedure and has never been insolvent or incapable of paying its debts, and to Seller’s Knowledge, no such proceedings are threatened by any third party in connection with any such procedure. No receiver has been appointed to administer all or parts of the assets of the Company and, to the Seller’s Knowledge, no proceedings are threatened in connection with any such appointment.

2.22 Certain Payments. None of the Company, nor any director, officer, employee, agent or other representative thereof, acting in his capacity of representative and on behalf of the Company, has made, directly or indirectly, any payment or promise to pay, or gift or promise to give, or authorized such a promise or gift, of any money or other tangible or intangible item of value, to (i) any foreign official (as such term is defined under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977) for the purpose of influencing any such official or inducing him/her to use his/her influence to affect any act or decision of any authority, or (ii) any foreign political party or official thereof or candidate for foreign political office for the purpose of influencing any official act or decision of such party, official or candidate, or inducing such party, official or candidate to use his/her/its influence to affect any act or decision of any authority, in each case in order to assist the Company to obtain or retain business for, or direct business to, the Company.

2.23 Brokers. The Company has incurred no liability towards, and is not bound to make any payment to, any broker, agent, investment banker, finder or other intermediary in connection with the transactions contemplated herein.

2.24 Disclosure. The Company has provided the Purchaser with all the information that the Purchaser has requested for deciding whether to purchase the Quotas, and all information that the Company believes is reasonably necessary to enable the Purchaser to make such decision.

2.25 No User Data Transfer. Since May 18, 2001, Seller has not transferred, assigned or transmitted any confidential personal data relating to the registered users of the Company.

 

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SECTION 3. R EPRESENTATIONS AND W ARRANTIES OF P URCHASER

Purchaser represents and warrants, to and for the benefit of Seller, as of the date of this Agreement, as follows:

3.1 Organization and Standing; Authority; Binding Nature of Agreement. Purchaser is duly incorporated, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the State of Delaware. Purchaser has the absolute and unrestricted corporate right, power and authority to enter into and to perform its obligations under this Agreement; and the execution, delivery and performance by Purchaser of this Agreement have been duly authorized by all necessary action on the part of Purchaser and no further action is required by Purchaser. This Agreement has been duly executed by Purchaser and, when delivered in accordance with the terms hereof, and assuming the due authorization, execution and delivery by Purchaser, shall constitute the legal, valid and binding obligation of Purchaser, enforceable against Purchaser in accordance with its terms, except (i) as limited by applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium or other laws of general application affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights and (ii) as limited by general principles of equity that restrict the availability of equitable remedies. Neither the execution and delivery by Purchaser of this Agreement, nor the performance by Purchaser of its obligations hereunder, require the consent or approval of, or filing with, any Person or any authority.

3.2 No Conflicts. The execution, delivery or performance of this Agreement or any other agreement or transaction contemplated herein, will not (i) result in a violation or breach of the terms, conditions or provisions of, or constitute a default under, the by-laws of the Purchaser or any material contract under which Purchaser is bound, or (ii) violate any applicable Legal Requirements.

3.3 Compliance with Consumer Defense and Protection Code and Other Legal Requirements. To the extent Purchaser has accessed, used, copied, or transferred to any other Person data relating to any third party (including, without limitation, the registered users) which has been collected or held by the Company, Purchaser has complied with, and has caused compliance with, all Legal Requirements applicable to such access, use, copy or transfer, including, without limitation, the Brazilian Consumer Defense and Protection Code (Law n. 8078/90), any Legal Requirements relating to notification of consumers, registered users, owners or originators of data, or any other Person, and any Legal Requirements relating to the amendment, correction, rectification, deletion or other changes to such data upon the request of the Person(s) to whom such data refers, relates or belongs, or from whom such data originated.

3.4 Access. Purchaser has been given full access to the assets, books, records, contracts and employees of the Company, and have been given the opportunity to meet with officers and other representatives of Seller and the Company for the purpose of investigating and obtaining information regarding the Company’s business, operations and legal affairs.

3.5 Other. Purchaser has the capacity to comply with and perform all of its covenants and obligations under this Agreement. Purchaser is not subject to any order, judgment, injunction or ruling that may have an adverse effect on its ability to comply with or perform any of its covenants or obligations under this Agreement. There is no legal proceeding pending, and no

 

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Person has threatened to commence any legal proceeding, that may have an adverse effect on the ability of Purchaser to comply with or perform any of its covenants or obligations under this Agreement. No event has occurred, and no claim, dispute or other condition or circumstance exists, that might directly or indirectly give rise to or serve as a basis for the commencement of any such legal proceeding.

SECTION 4. I NDEMNIFICATION

4.1 Indemnification by Seller.

(a) In addition to all rights and remedies available to Purchaser at Law or in equity, Seller shall indemnify Purchaser and its Affiliates, stockholders, officers, directors, employees, agents, representatives, successors and permitted assigns, heirs and estates (collectively, the Indemnified Purchaser Parties ) and save and hold each of them harmless against and pay on behalf of or reimburse such party as and when incurred for any loss, Liability, demand, claim, action, cause of action, cost, damage, deficiency, Tax, penalty, fine or expense, whether or not arising out of any claims by or on behalf of any third party, including interest, penalties, reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses and ail reasonable amounts paid in investigation, defense or settlement of any of the foregoing (collectively, Losses ) which any such Indemnified Purchaser Party may suffer, sustain or become subject to, as a result of, in connection with, relating or incidental to or by virtue of:

(i) any misrepresentation or breach of a representation or warranty (provided that such misrepresentation or breach must be material in the event that the applicable representation or warranty is not qualified by materiality) on the part of Seller under this Agreement or any of the Exhibits or Schedules hereto;

(ii) any nonfulfillment or breach of any covenant or agreement (provided that such nonfulfillment or breach must be material in the event that the applicable covenant or agreement is not qualified by materiality or a basket) on the part of Seller under this Agreement; or

(iii) any liabilities of the Company which are not disclosed to Purchaser in this Agreement or in the Exhibits and Schedules hereto, whether or not such non-disclosure constitutes a misrepresentation or breach of a representation, warranty, covenant or agreement on the part of Seller under this Agreement or any of the Exhibits and Schedules hereto, provided that such Losses relate to the period prior to the Closing Date and are actually incurred and notified to Seller pursuant to Section 4.6 during the one-year period commencing on the Closing Date.

(b) In addition to the foregoing, Seller shall indemnify the Indemnified Purchaser Parties against Losses in excess of $500,000 in the aggregate, which (i) are incurred by the Indemnified Purchaser Party as a direct result of liabilities of the Company which are disclosed to Purchaser in this Agreement or in the Exhibits and Schedules attached hereto (including, without limitation, Losses relating to the termination of current employees of the Company (who with their respective estimated termination indemnity amounts are referenced in Schedule 2.12(e)) and the litigation matter identified in Schedule 2.19(a) (the “Lokau Litigation”));

 

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(ii) relate to the period prior to the Closing Date (provided that all matters expressly disclosed in this Agreement or the Exhibits and Schedules are deemed to relate to the period prior to the Closing Date); and (iii) are actually incurred during the one-year period commencing on the Closing Date (provided that any Losses relating to the Lokau Litigation will be deemed to have been incurred during the one-year period commencing on the Closing Date). Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 4.1(b) shall not apply to (i) any fixed commercial obligations of the Company to perform pursuant to executory Contracts entered into in the ordinary course of business on commercially reasonable terms, consistent with past practices, and not in default on the Closing Date (each an “Executory Contract”), provided, however, that a certain agreement with Globo Servicos Interactivos Ltda., dated March 22, 2000, and an amendment thereto, dated September 15, 2000 (collectively, the “Globo Contract”), will not be considered an Executory Contract for the purposes of this Section 4.1(b); and (ii) any Liabilities incurred by the Company or Purchaser in the termination of any of the Contracts (excluding the Globo Contract) entered into, prior to the Closing Date, in the ordinary course of business on commercially-reasonable terms.

4.2 Indemnification by Purchaser. In addition to all rights and remedies available to Seller at Law or in equity. Purchaser shall indemnify Seller and its Affiliates, stockholders, officers, directors, employees, agents, representatives, successors and permitted assigns, heirs and estates (collectively, the Indemnified Seller Parties ) and save and hold each of them harmless against and pay on behalf of or reimburse such Indemnified Seller Party as and when incurred for any Losses which any such party may suffer, sustain or become subject to, as a result of, in connection with, relating or incidental to or by virtue of:

(i) any misrepresentation or breach of a representation or warranty (provided that such misrepresentation or breach must be material in the event that the applicable representation or warranty is not qualified by materiality) on the part of Purchaser under this Agreement or any of the Exhibits or Schedules hereto; or

(ii) any nonfulfillment or breach of any covenant or agreement (provided that such nonfulfillment or breach must be material in the event that the applicable covenant or agreement is not qualified by materiality or a basket) on the part of Purchaser under this Agreement.

4.3 Survival. All indemnification rights hereunder shall survive the execution and delivery of the Documents and the consummation of the transactions contemplated herein and therein indefinitely, regardless of any investigation, inquiry or examination made for or on behalf of, or any knowledge of the indemnified parties or the acceptance by such indemnified parties of any certificate or opinion; provided that no action may be brought pursuant to this Section 4 after the applicable expiration or termination of such representation, warranty, agreement, or covenant, as provided in Section 4.11.

4.4 Contribution. If for any reason the indemnity provided for in this Section 4 is unavailable to any Indemnified Purchaser Party or Indemnified Seller Party, as applicable, or is insufficient to hold each such party harmless from all such Losses arising with respect to the transactions contemplated by the Documents, then the indemnifying party and the indemnified party shall each contribute to the amount paid or payable in respect of such Loss in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect not only the

 

16


relative benefits received by the indemnifying party on the one hand and such indemnified party on the other but also the relative fault of the indemnifying party and the indemnified party as well as any relevant equitable considerations. In addition, the indemnifying party agrees to reimburse any indemnified party upon demand for all reasonable expenses (including legal counsel fees) incurred by such party or any such other Person in connection with investigating, preparing or defending any such action or claim. The indemnity, contribution and expense reimbursement obligations that the indemnifying party has under this Section 4 shall be in addition to any Liability that the indemnifying party may otherwise have.

4.5 Applicability and Payment. The indemnifying party further agrees that the indemnification and reimbursement commitments set forth in this Agreement shall apply whether or not the indemnified party is a formal party to any such lawsuits, claims or other proceedings. Any indemnification of the indemnified party by the indemnifying party pursuant to this Section 4 shall be effected within 15 days after the determination thereof by wire transfer of immediately available funds from the indemnifying party to an account designated in writing by the indemnified party.

4.6 Notice. Whenever any claim shall arise for indemnification hereunder, the indemnified party shall promptly notify the indemnifying party of the claim and, when known, the facts constituting the basis for such claim. In the event of any claim for indemnification hereunder resulting from or in connection with any claim or legal proceedings by a third party, the notice to the indemnifying party shall specify, if known, the amount or an estimate of the amount of the Liability arising therefrom.

4.7 Settlement of Claims. The indemnified party shall not settle or compromise any claim by a third party for which it is entitled to indemnification hereunder, without the prior written consent of the indemnifying party, unless suit shall have been instituted against it and the indemnifying party shall not have taken control of such suit (as described below) after notification thereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing, without Seller’s prior written consent, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld, Purchaser shall not satisfy or settle (i) any single Matter in excess of Twenty Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000) for which indemnification is sought hereunder; (ii) Matters for which indemnification is sought pursuant to Section 4.1(a), which in the aggregate exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars (S50,000); and (iii) Matters for which indemnification is sought pursuant to Section 4.1(b), which in the aggregate exceed Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000).

4.8 Defense of Claims. In connection with any claim giving rise to indemnity hereunder resulting from or arising out of any claim or legal proceedings by a Person who is not a party to this Agreement, the indemnifying party, at its sole cost and expense, may, upon written notice to the indemnified party, assume the defense of any such claim or legal proceedings if it acknowledges to the indemnified party in writing its obligation to indemnify the indemnified party with respect to all elements of such claim for which indemnity is due hereunder. The indemnified party shall be entitled to participate in (but not control) the defense of any such action, with its counsel and at its own expense. If the indemnifying party does not assume the defense of any such claim or litigation resulting therefrom, the indemnified party may defend against such claim or litigation, in such manner as it may deem appropriate, at the expense and cost of the indemnifying party, including settling such claim or litigation after giving notice of the same to the

 

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indemnifying party, on such terms as the indemnified party may deem appropriate after consultation with, and giving due consideration to the view of, the indemnifying party of such terms, and the indemnifying party shall be entitled to participate in (but not control) the defense of such action, with its counsel and at its own expense.

4.9 Reports of Satisfaction or Settlement of Claims. Purchaser shall report in writing to Seller within ten days of the end of each month the satisfaction or settlement of any Matters for which indemnification could be sought hereunder, regardless of whether Seller’s consent to such satisfaction or settlement is required pursuant to this Section 4.

4.10 Limitations on Indemnification.

(a) Limitations on Purchaser’s Right to Indemnification. From and after the Closing, the Indemnified Purchaser Parties shall not have the right to be indemnified pursuant to Section 4.1 (a) unless and until the Indemnified Purchaser Parties shall, collectively, have incurred on a cumulative basis since the Closing aggregate Losses otherwise entitled to indemnification hereunder in an amount exceeding $50,000, and Seller shall only be required to pay, and shall only be liable for, the amount by which the cumulative amount of the aggregate Losses actually incurred by the Indemnified Purchaser Parties entitled to indemnification hereunder exceeds such amount. The sum of all Losses pursuant to which indemnification is payable by Seller pursuant to Section 4.1 shall not exceed $7,500,000 in the aggregate; provided that Seller shall not be obligated under this Agreement to indemnify and save and hold harmless against any Losses which any Indemnified Purchaser Party may suffer, sustain or become subject to, as a result of, in connection with, relating or incidental to or by virtue of the decisions made or actions taken by Purchaser in its exercise of control and management of the business operations and affairs of the Company after the Closing.

(b) Limitations on Seller’s Right to Indemnification. From and after the Closing, the Indemnified Seller Parties shall not have the right to be indemnified pursuant to Section 4.2 unless and until the Indemnified Seller Parties shall, collectively, have incurred on a cumulative basis since the Closing aggregate Losses otherwise entitled to indemnification hereunder in an amount exceeding $50,000, in which event the Indemnified Seller Parties shall be entitled to indemnification for all Losses incurred by the Indemnified Seller Parties (including the initial $50,000).

4.11 Expiration of Representations, Warranties and Covenants.

(a) All representations and warranties hereunder shall survive the Closing for a period of one (1) year thereafter. All agreements and covenants contained herein shall survive indefinitely until, by their respective terms, they are no longer operative.

(b) For a period of six (6) months following the first twelve (12) months after the Closing Date, the parties will cooperate in good faith to settle any unresolved specific indemnification claim set forth in a Claim Notice duly delivered in accordance with Section 4.6. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Seller acknowledges that it will continue to be obligated after such six-month period to settle any unresolved indemnification claim set forth in a Claim Notice duly delivered in accordance with Section 4.6.

 

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4.12 Julien Turri. Seller shall be solely responsible for any severance payment to and the settlement of any demand or claim made by Julien Pierre Turri arising out of or in connection with his employment relation with, and his acting for, the Company in Brazil at any time prior to the Closing Date. Seller shall indemnify and hold harmless the Indemnified Purchaser Parties from and against any Losses arising out of any labor claim or demand initiated by Julien Pierre Turri in Brazil during the period of two (2) years following the Closing Date and relating to the period prior to the Closing Date. The Indemnified Purchaser Parties shall cooperate with Seller in the defense and/or settlement of any labor claim or demand initiated by Julien Pierre Turri and agree to make available the time and assistance of the Company’s officers and employees and provide access to all pertinent documents, books and records that Seller reasonably deems necessary or appropriate. Only Sections 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8 of this Section 4 shall be applicable to the provisions in this Section 4.12.

SECTION 5. M ISCELLANEOUS P ROVISIONS

5.1 Currency. Unless otherwise stated, all currency amounts stated in this Agreement and in any attached Schedules and Exhibits are stated in United States Dollars.

5.2 Compliance with Laws. Each Party hereto shall execute such agreements and other documents, and shall take such other actions, as the other may reasonably request (prior to, at or after the Closing) for the purpose of ensuring that the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are carried out in full compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws and regulations.

5.3 Further Assurances. Each party hereto shall execute and/or cause to be delivered to each other party hereto such instruments and other documents, and shall take such other actions, as such other party may reasonably request (prior to, at or after the Closing) for the purpose of carrying out or evidencing any of the transactions set forth herein.

5.4 Notices. Any notice or other communication required or permitted to be delivered to any party under this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed properly delivered, given and received when delivered (by hand, by registered mail, by courier or express delivery service or by facsimile) to the address or facsimile number set forth beneath the name of such party below (or to such other address or facsimile number as such party shall have specified in a written notice given to the other parties hereto):

if to Seller:

eBay Inc.

2145 Hamilton Avenue

San Jose, California 95125

Attention: General Counsel

Facsimile: (408) 558-7514

 

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and a copy to:

Cooley Godward LLP

Five Palo Alto Square

3000 El Camino Real

Palo Alto, CA 94306

Attention: Michael J. Sullivan, Esq.

Facsimile: (415) 951-3699

if to Purchaser:

MercadoLibre, Inc.

Thames 121,2° Piso

San Isidro, B1609JUC

Acassuso 1609, ARGENTINA

Facsimile: +54 (114) 735 8099

Attention:  Chief Executive Officer

with a copy to:

Hunton & Williams

1111 Brickell Avenue, Suite 2500

Miami, FL 33131

Attention: Roberto Pupo, Esq.

Facsimile: (305) 810-2460

5.5 Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in several counterparts, each of which shall constitute an original and all of which, when taken together, shall constitute one agreement.

5.6 Governing Law; Venue. THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DOMESTIC LAWS OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE, WITHOUT GIVING EFFECT TO ANY CHOICE OF LAW OR CONFLICTING PROVISION OR RULE (WHETHER OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE, OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION) THAT WOULD CAUSE THE LAWS OF ANY JURISDICTION OTHER THAN THE STATE OF DELAWARE TO BE APPLIED. IN FURTHERANCE OF THE FOREGOING, THE INTERNAL LAW OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE WILL CONTROL THE INTERPRETATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THIS AGREEMENT, EVEN IF UNDER SUCH JURISDICTION’S CHOICE OF LAW OR CONFLICT OF LAW ANALYSIS, THE SUBSTANTIVE LAW OF SOME OTHER JURISDICTION WOULD ORDINARILY APPLY. ANY DISPUTE BETWEEN THE PARTIES CONNECTED WITH THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE SUBMITTED TO THE SOLE JURISDICTION OF THE COURTS OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE, COUNTY OF NEW CASTLE, OR, IF IT HAS OR CAN ACQUIRE JURISDICTION, IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE. EACH OF THE PARTIES CONSENTS TO THE JURISDICTION OF SUCH COURTS (AND OF THE APPROPRIATE APPELLATE COURTS) IN ANY SUCH ACTION OR PROCEEDING AND

 

20


WAIVES ANY OBJECTION TO VENUE LAID THEREIN. PROCESS IN ANY ACTION OR PROCEEDING REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING SENTENCE MAY BE SERVED ON ANY PARTY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

5.7 Consultation. Any matter not stipulated in this Agreement or any doubt occurring in connection with any provisions of this Agreement shall be settled through consultation from time to time between the parties in good faith.

5.8 Severability. In the event that any provision of this Agreement, or the application of any such provision to any Person or set of circumstances, shall be determined to be invalid, unlawful, void or unenforceable to any extent, the remainder of this Agreement, and the application of such provision to Persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is determined to be invalid, unlawful, void or unenforceable, shall not be impaired or otherwise affected and shall continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

5.9 Amendments. This Agreement may not be amended, modified, altered or supplemented other than by means of a written instrument duly executed and delivered on behalf of Purchaser and Seller.

5.10 Confidentiality of Terms. Neither party, without the prior written approval of the other, issue any press release, advertising, publicity or public statement or in any way engage in any other form of public disclosure that indicates the existence of or terms of this Agreement or the relationship of the parties hereto; provided, that either party may disclose the terms and existence of this Agreement if required to do so by applicable law based upon advice of its outside legal counsel reasonably concurred with by legal counsel to the other.

5.11 Entire Agreement. This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding of the parties hereto relating to the subject matter thereof and supersede all prior agreements and understandings among or between any of the parties relating to the subject matter thereof.

[REMAINDER OF PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

 

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The parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be executed and delivered as of the date first above written.

 

P URCHASER :     S ELLER :
M ERCADO L IBRE , I NC .     E B AY I NC .
a Delaware corporation     a Delaware corporation
By:  

/s/ Marcos Galperin

    By:  

 

Name:   Marcos Galperin     Name:  
Title:   CEO     Title:  
MARCOS EDUARDO GALPERIN     MATTHEW BANNICK

/s/ Marcos Galperin

   

 

 

Signature Page—Quota Purchase Agreement


The parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be executed and delivered as of the date first above written.

 

P URCHASER :     S ELLER :
M ERCADO L IBRE , I NC .     E B AY I NC .
a Delaware corporation     a Delaware corporation
By:  

 

    By:  

/s/ Matthew J. Bannick

Name:       Name:   Matthew J. Bannick
Title:       Title:   SuPo GM, International
MARCOS EDUARDO GALPERIN     MATTHEW BANNICK

 

   

/s/ Matthew Bannick

 

Signature Page—Quota Purchase Agreement


Exhibit A

Certain Definitions

For purposes of this Agreement, the following terms have the meanings set forth below:

Affiliate means, with respect to any Person (a) any director, officer or stockholder holding 5% or more of the capital stock (on a fully diluted basis) of such Person, (b) any spouse, parent, sibling or descendant of such Person (or a spouse, parent, sibling or descendant of any director or officer of such Person) and (c) any other Person that, directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, or is controlled by, or is under common control with, such Person. The term control includes, without limitation, the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct the management and policies of a Person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract or otherwise

Amended Articles has the meaning set forth in Section 1.4(b).

Closing has the meaning set forth in Section 1.3.

Closing Date has the meaning set forth in Section 1.3.

Company has the meaning set forth in the first Recital to this Agreement.

Contracts has the meaning set forth in Section 2.7(a).

Documents means (a) this Agreement, (b) the Second Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement between Purchaser and the Investors (as named therein) dated as of September 24 , 2001, (c) the Second Amended and Restated Stockholders’ Agreement between Purchaser and the Stockholders (as defined therein) dated as of September 24 , 2001, (d) the Securities Purchase Agreement, (e) the Strategic Alliance Agreement between Purchaser and Seller dated as of September 24, 2001, and (f) the Third Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Purchaser filed as of September 24, 2001.

Encumbrance means any charge, claim, community property interest, condition, equitable interest, lien, option, pledge, security interest, right of first refusal or restriction of any kind, including any restriction on use, voting, transfer, receipt of income or exercise of any other attribute of ownership.

Entity means any company, corporation, association, general partnership, limited partnership, venture, trust, association, firm, organization, company, business, union, society, or other legal person.

Financial Statements has the meaning set forth in Section 2.4.

 

Signature Page—Quota Purchase Agreement


Governmental Entity means any legislature, court, administrative agency or commission or other governmental authority or instrumentality, domestic or foreign, federal, state or local.

Intellectual Property Rights means (i) inventions patentable, and all improvements thereto; (ii) patents and patent applications; (iii) trade secrets; (iv) trademarks, trade names, copyrights and domain names in each case registered; (v) software; (vi) data bases; and (vii) industrial designs; (viii) other intellectual property; including all copies and tangible embodiments of the information described in clauses (i)-(viii) above, owned or used by the Company.

Knowledge means the actual knowledge of the Person referred to, and if such Person is an Entity, of that Entity’s directors and executive officers.

Law means any constitution, law, statute, treaty, rule, directive, requirement or regulation or Order, domestic or foreign, of any Governmental Entity.

Legal Requirements means any and all Laws or Permits applicable to the relevant involved company.

Liability means any liability or obligation, whether known or unknown, asserted or unasserted, absolute or contingent, accrued or unaccrued, liquidated or unliquidated and whether due or to become due, regardless of when asserted.

Licensed Intellectual Property means Intellectual Property Rights that are held by the Company under a license granted by a third party.

Losses has the meaning set forth in Section 4.1 (a).

Matter means any claim, demand, dispute, action, suit, examination, audit, proceeding, investigation, inquiry or other similar matter.

Orders means judgments, writs, decrees, injunctions, orders, compliance agreements or settlement agreements of or with any Governmental Entity or arbitrator.

Owned Intellectual Property means Intellectual Property Rights that are owned by the Company.

Permits means any and all permits, authorizations, approvals, registrations, waivers, variances, concessions and licenses granted by a governmental authority (excluding when it relates to intellectual property).

Person shall be construed broadly and shall include an individual, a partnership, a corporation, a limited liability company, an association, a joint stock company, a trust, a joint venture, an unincorporated organization, or a Governmental Entity (or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof), in each case whether domestic or foreign.

Quotas has the meaning set forth in the first Recital to this Agreement.

 

Signature Page—Quota Purchase Agreement


Related Party means (i) any entity directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by, or under common control with Seller (including, without limitation, iBazar S.A.), (ii) Seller, (iii) any director, officer, senior employee of the entities mentioned in (i) and (ii), and (iv) any entity in which any of the Persons named in (i), (ii) and (iii) has a direct or indirect interest.

Securities Purchase Agreement has the meaning set forth in Section 1.2.

Tax and Taxes means any taxes and social contributions, of any nature imposed, assessed, or collected under any law or payable pursuant to any tax sharing or similar contract, including, without limitation, (i) all income, value-added, registration, transfer, excise, real or personal property, capital, withholding, stamp, sales taxes, state taxes, local taxes, and other employment related taxes concerning the employees of the Company, or any other taxes or charges in the nature of the taxes described above, and any assessments, duties, fees, or other governmental charges (including interest and penalties associated therewith), (ii) employment contributions and social security contributions, (iii) any liability for the payment of any amounts of the type described in clause (i) above arising as a result of being a member (or ceasing to be a member) of ally corporate group, or being included (or required to be included) in any tax return relating thereto, (iv) any liability for the payment of any amounts of the type described in clauses (i) and (ii) above as a result of any obligation to indemnify or otherwise assume or succeed to the liability of any third party, and (v) any penalties, fines, charges, surcharges and interest in connection with the items mentioned under (i) through (iv).

 

Signature Page—Quota Purchase Agreement


SCHEDULES

The following schedules have been omitted from this filing and will be provided upon request of the commission:

2.1 Organization and Standing; No Subsidiaries.

2.2 Capitalization, Etc.

2.3 Authority; Corporate Records; Binding Nature of Agreement; No Consents; No Violation

2.4 Financial Statements

2.5 Bank Accounts.

2.6 Taxes.

2.7 Contracts

2.8 Assets

2.9 Permits.

2.10 Compliance with Legal Requirements

2.11 Insurance.

2.12 Employee Matters.

2.13 Intellectual Property Rights

2.14 Real Property

2.15 Personal Property

2.16 Environmental Matters

2.17 Computer Systems

2.18 Absence of Material Changes

2.19 Legal Proceedings

2.20 Related Parties.

2.21 Bankruptcy.

2.22 Certain Payments

2.23 Brokers

2.24 Disclosure

2.25 No User Data Transfer

 

1

Exhibit 10.03

This Lease Agreement is made by and between CURTIDOS SAN LUIS S.A., with offices at Tronador 4890, piso 10º, Capital Federal, herein represented by Mr. Dante Aldo Prati, holder of Argentine Identity Document [ D.N.I. ]No. 12954501, and Mr. Julio Alberto Bozzelli, holder of Argentine Identity Document [ L.E. ]No. 5222282, in their capacity as Attorneys-in-fact, as evidenced by the documents submitted herein, which shall hereinafter be referred to as “LESSOR”; and MERCADO LIBRE S.A., with offices at Tronador 4890 – 8vo piso, Capital Federal, herein represented by Mr. Nicolás Szekasy, holder of D.N.I. No. 17,363,052 and Mr. Hernán Kazah, holder of Argentine Identity Document [ D.N.I. ] No. 21850737, in their capacity as Attorneys-in-fact, as evidenced by the documents submitted herein, hereinafter referred to as “LESSEE”, subject to the following terms and conditions:

1. PARTIES

LESSOR and LESSEE shall be hereinafter jointly referred to as THE PARTIES.

2. THE PREMISES

The real property owned by LESSOR, which is the subject matter of this Lease Agreement, hereinafter referred to as the PREMISES, is described as follows: the entire sixth floor of the building located at Tronador 4890, Capital Federal, intended for use as business offices, with the right to use the surfaces designated in the condominium and administration bylaws as individual and common parts of the floors and 10 (ten) units used as parking spaces and located on the building’s underground floor, identified with numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 68, 88, 89, 90, 220, 221, and 1 (one) parking space located at the building’s parking lot with its entrance on Pico street.

3. TERM

The lease term shall be thirty-six (36) months, from April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2010. Early termination of this lease shall be subject to the applicable laws (sections 8 and 29 bis of Law No. 23091), i.e., after lapse of the first six (6)-month period starting on April 1, 2007, LESSEE may terminate this lease, and it shall give notice at least 60 (sixty) days in advance to LESSOR. If LESSEE makes use of this option within the first year of this Lease Agreement, it shall pay LESSOR an amount equivalent to 1.5 (one and a half) months of the rent in force at the time of termination as compensation, and only 1 (one) month’s rent as compensation if this option is used after the first year of the lease.


4. PRICE AND PAYMENT CURRENCY

The monthly rent payable by LESSEE, which is mutually agreed by the parties, is US$ 20,098 (twenty thousand, ninety-eight United States Dollars) for the floor leased together with the parking spaces, all of which were specified in Section 2 above. During the term of this Lease, the rent shall be paid in an amount of Argentine Pesos sufficient to purchase the amount of dollars specified above on the floating exchange rate market; payment shall be computed to the forward month, and rent shall be payable between the 1 st and the 5 th day of the respective month from April 1, 2007, at the address herein established by LESSOR. The minimum rent amount shall not be lower than sixty-two thousand, seven hundred and five pesos (AR$ 62,705). LESSOR may choose to demand that payment be made in Argentine pesos in the amount necessary to purchase the specified amount of dollars on the Floating Exchange Rate Market in New York or Montevideo, at LESSOR’s option, and free of any expenses for LESSOR. It is hereby expressly established that the price is herein set in United States dollars because the parties understand that section 13 of Law No. 23928 has, in general, repealed section 1 of Law No. 23,091, which banned the setting of lease agreements’ prices in dollars, for which reason sections 617 and 619 of the Argentine Civil Code are now applicable. The parties freely agree that the rent amount shall be jointly reviewed every year, upon the express prior request by one of the parties, following the procedure stated hereinafter to set a new rent amount. The parties agree that, in the event of disagreement as to the rent amount and of one of the parties having requested a review of the amount, the PARTIES shall obtain each an appraisal of the amount for rents with similar characteristics and conditions from a renowned real estate broker working in the area. Once both appraisals are obtained, the PARTIES shall agree upon a new rent amount within thirty calendar days, not more. The meetings shall always be held between direct representatives of both companies. If the parties fail to reach an agreement within said period, the rent amount shall be set by the L.J. Ramos firm, which will take into account the appraisals made by the brokers and other elements of market analysis, and the parties shall accept this amount. In addition to the amount stated above, LESSEE shall, from April 1, 2007, pay any taxes due to the Autonomous Government of the City of Buenos Aires (Street Lighting, Sweeping and Cleaning, Pavement and Sidewalks, and Land Tax, known as “ABL”), Aguas


Argentinas S.A. and the common expenses of the building, maintenance of the services provided at the Building, e.g.: Cafeteria, Gym. The amount of ordinary expenses, common expenses, taxes, assessments, and services shall be calculated according to the percentage established in Annex I, which is an integral part of this Agreement. The services used by LESSEE to carry out its business activities and which are not mentioned above, such as electricity, telephone services and other services which are not covered by the common expenses shall be borne by LESSEE from April 1, 2007, the effective date of this Agreement. The Value-Added Tax (VAT), and any other taxes which in the future may be levied on leases, is not included in the rent amount and shall be borne by LESSEE.

5. SECURITY DEPOSIT

The security deposit agreed upon by the PARTIES amounts to US$ 40,096 (forty thousand, ninety-six United States Dollars), equivalent to two months’ rent. Given that LESSEE has paid to LESSOR a security deposit of US$ 12,806 (twelve thousand, eight hundred and six United States Dollars) by reason of the previous lease agreement (signed on March 31, 2004), LESSEE herein delivers to LESSOR the amount of US$ 27,290 (twenty-seven thousand, two hundred and ninety United States Dollars) to fully pay the security deposit agreed upon. For this purpose, LESSEE herein delivers to LESSOR a check payable to LESSOR’s order for the amount of Argentine Pesos sufficient to purchase the amount of dollars specified above. This agreement shall be sufficient evidence of receipt thereof. Such amount shall not accrue any interest whatsoever and shall be used as compensation for any damages that LESSEE may cause to the leased premises from the moment delivery of possession is received. The amount shall be reimbursed to LESSEE upon termination of the agreement and when the premises are returned in the conditions established herein and once any amounts owed or necessary to restore the missing items or items to be replaced have been deducted. The parties agree that LESSOR’s failure to reimburse the amount given as Security Deposit by LESSEE shall empower LESSEE, once the premises are delivered in the agreed-upon conditions and the proportional amounts owed by LESSEE for the consumption of public utility services are paid, all of which shall not exceed a period of twenty (20) business days from the date the premises are delivered to LESSOR, to file for a summary proceeding claiming the undue withholding of the amount without prior notice to LESSOR being necessary. The delayed reimbursement of the security deposit shall entail the LESSOR’s default and undue withholding of the amount, and shall consequently accrue a monthly penalty interest


equivalent to 2% per month for the period during which the security deposit was withheld from the termination of the agreement and the delivery of the leased premises until the effective reimbursement. The PARTIES agree that such amount shall be paid at LESSOR’s offices located at Tronador 4890 10º piso, Capital Federal.

6. USE OF THE PREMISES

LESSEE undertakes to use the leased premises to conduct its business, by using them as office only. This agreement shall not be assigned or transferred, whether in whole or in part, unless such assignment or transfer is made to subsidiaries, affiliates or companies that are LESSEE’s legal successors, which shall assume all of LESSEE’s obligations. Notwithstanding the foregoing, and should the authorized transfer be made, LESSEE shall duly notify LESSOR of this circumstance. This section shall not be restrictively construed, and thus LESSEE may designate the premises as the legal and/or administrative and fiscal domicile of all the companies and/or entities owned by MERCADO LIBRE S.A. which conduct business in the Argentine Republic through LESSEE.

7. TELEPHONE LINES

The installation, maintenance and ownership of telephone lines shall be borne by LESSEE.

8. DEFAULT

Should LESSEE fail to timely pay the rent, notwithstanding any other actions that LESSOR could institute, LESSEE shall pay compensatory interest and penalty interest equal to 2% (two percent) per month on the amount owed to LESSOR during the delinquency period. Default in payment shall, in any event, occur as a result of the mere lapse of time, without any court or out-of-court demand notice being necessary.

9. RETURN OF THE PREMISES.

Upon termination of this Agreement, LESSEE undertakes to return the PREMISES which are the subject matter hereof without any court or out-of-court demand notice being necessary, and with all taxes, assessments and services payable by it duly paid, clean and in good state of repair, except for normal deterioration caused by the ordinary wear and tear. Delivery of the premises shall be evidenced by means of a written document issued by a representative of LESSOR.


LESSOR shall give LESSEE a 15-day written notice prior to the expiration of the term of the lease to inform to whom such delivery shall be made, and who shall perform a general inspection of the leased premises together with LESSEE in order to verify their condition. For such purpose, a record shall be prepared detailing the state of repair of the PREMISES and describing whether there is any damage or missing items. LESSEE shall repair any such damage or pay any missing items, except for the ordinary wear and tear resulting from the appropriate use of the premises and the lapse of time. Upon expiration of the lease term, the fixed improvements made by LESSEE shall remain with the premises for the benefit of LESSOR, unless these can be withdrawn from the PREMISES without causing damages or modifications that may alter the original condition of the received property, and this shall be under the charge of LESSEE. In the event LESSEE fails to return the PREMISES, it shall pay, in addition to the monthly rent amount, 1/30 part of the monthly rent amount for each day of delay as penalty, and actual damages.

10. TERMINATION

The breach by one party of any of its obligations under this Agreement shall entitle the other to terminate this agreement, provided prior notice is given demanding compliance or that the breach be cured within not more than fifteen (15) days. Upon expiration of this period, and should the breach continue, the non-breaching party shall consider the agreement automatically terminated by the breaching party.

11. CONDOMINIUM, ADMINISTRATION AND INTERNAL BYLAWS.

LESSOR shall deliver to LESSEE the condominium and administration bylaws and the internal bylaws for information and compliance purposes. Temporarily, until those bylaws become effective, the rules related to the operation and aesthetics of the Building, which are attached hereto as Annex II and are an integral part hereof, shall apply.

12. STAMP TAX

THE PARTIES hereby agree that they shall equally bear the stamp tax payable by reason of this contract.


13. FORCE MAJEURE, ENTIRE AGREEMENT, AMENDMENTS

Acts of God and force majeure events shall be governed by sections 513 and 514 of the Argentine Civil Code in all aspects related to their nature, occurrence, characteristics and consequences. Should an event considered to be an act of God or a force majeure event in accordance with the regulations in force take place, the party affected thereby shall notify the other of the occurrence of such event and of the means to be used to deal with such event within 48 (forty-eight) business hours, indicating the estimated period during which it shall not be able to comply with the contractual obligations affected by the event. This shall apply provided that notice is given within the stated term. This Agreement constitutes the entire and exclusive agreement of the PARTIES and supersedes any other previous agreement as well as all the oral or written proposals and any other communications between them which may have been sent prior to the execution of this Agreement (Section 1197 of the Argentine Civil Code). Any amendment to or extension of this Agreement shall be made in writing by mutual agreement of the Parties.

14. JURISDICTION. ADDRESSES

For all purposes, the PARTIES submit to the jurisdiction of the Civil Courts in and for the City of Buenos Aires (Capital Federal), and waive their right to resort to any other competent courts. The PARTIES set their addresses at the ones set out above, where all court or out-of-court notices shall be deemed to have been validly given.

In witness whereof, the parties have executed this Agreement in two (2) counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original and all of which together shall constitute one and the same instrument, in the City of Buenos Aires, on March 31, 2007.

 

Curtidos San Luis S.A.
/s/ Dante Ando Prati
/s/ Julio Alberto Bozzelli
MercadoLibre S.A.
/s/ Marcos Eduardo Galperin

Exhibit 10.08

MERCADOLIBRE, INC.

eBAY INC.

LOAN AND SECURITY AGREEMENT


This L OAN A ND S ECURITY A GREEMENT is entered into as of November 2, 2005, by and between EBAY INC. (“Lender”) and MERCADOLIBRE, INC. (“Borrower”).

R ECITALS

Borrower wishes to obtain credit from Lender from time to time to purchase certain shares of capital stock of certain subsidiaries of DeRemate.com, Inc. (“DeRemate”), and Lender desires to extend credit to Borrower. This Agreement sets forth the terms on which Lender will advance credit to Borrower, and Borrower will repay the amounts owing to Lender.

A GREEMENT

The parties agree as follows:

 

  1. D EFINITIONS A ND C ONSTRUCTION .

1.1 Definitions. As used in this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following definitions:

“Accounts” means all presently existing and hereafter arising accounts, contract rights, payment intangibles, and all other forms of obligations owing to Borrower arising out of the sale or lease of goods (including, without limitation, the licensing of software and other technology) or the rendering of services by Borrower, whether or not earned by performance, and any and all credit insurance, guaranties, and other security therefor, as well as all merchandise returned to or reclaimed by Borrower and Borrower’s Books relating to any of the foregoing.

“Advance” means a cash advance as specified in Section 2.1.

“Affiliate” means, with respect to any Person, any Person that owns or controls directly or indirectly such Person, any Person that controls or is controlled by or is under common control with such Person, and each of such Person’s senior executive officers, directors, and partners, provided that for sake of clarity Lender shall not be deemed an Affiliate of Borrower.

“Borrower’s Books” means all of Borrower’s books and records including: ledgers; records concerning Borrower’s assets or liabilities, the Collateral, business operations or financial condition; and all computer programs, or tape files, and the equipment, containing such information.

“Business Day” means any day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or other day on which banks in the State of California or New York or Buenos Aires, Argentina are authorized or required to close.

“Change in Control” shall mean a transaction in which any “person” or “group” (within the meaning of Section 13(d) and 14(d)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) becomes the “beneficial owner” (as defined in Rule 13d-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934), directly or indirectly, of a sufficient number of shares of all classes of stock then outstanding of Borrower ordinarily entitled to vote in the election of directors, empowering such “person” or “group” to elect a majority of the Board of Directors of Borrower, who did not have such power before such transaction.

 

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“Closing Date” means the date of this Agreement.

“Code” means the New York Uniform Commercial Code; provided, further , that if by reason of mandatory provisions of law, the perfection or the effect of perfection or non-perfection or priority of the security interests granted hereunder in any Collateral is governed by the Uniform Commercial Code as in effect in a jurisdiction other than the State of New York, “Uniform Commercial Code” shall mean the Uniform Commercial Code as in effect, from time to time, in such other jurisdiction for purposes of the provisions hereof relating to such perfection or effect of perfection or non-perfection or priority.

“Collateral” means the property described on Exhibit A attached hereto.

“Contingent Obligation” means, as applied to any Person, any direct or indirect liability, contingent or otherwise, of that Person with respect to (i) any indebtedness, lease, dividend, letter of credit or other obligation of another, including, without limitation, any such obligation directly or indirectly guaranteed, endorsed, co-made or discounted or sold with recourse by that Person, or in respect of which that Person is otherwise directly or indirectly liable; (ii) any obligations with respect to undrawn letters of credit, corporate credit cards, or merchant services issued or provided for the account of that Person; and (iii) all obligations arising under any interest rate, currency or commodity swap agreement, interest rate cap agreement, interest rate collar agreement, or other agreement or arrangement designed to protect such Person against fluctuation in interest rates, currency exchange rates or commodity prices; provided, however, that the term “Contingent Obligation” shall not include endorsements for collection or deposit in the ordinary course of business. The amount of any Contingent Obligation shall be deemed to be an amount equal to the stated or determined amount of the primary obligation in respect of which such Contingent Obligation is made or, if not stated or determinable, the maximum reasonably anticipated liability in respect thereof as determined by such Person in good faith; provided, however, that such amount shall not in any event exceed the maximum amount of the obligations under the guarantee or other support arrangement.

“Copyrights” means any and all copyright rights, copyright applications, copyright registrations and like protections in each work or authorship and derivative work thereof, whether published or unpublished and whether or not the same also constitutes a trade secret, now or hereafter existing, created, acquired or held.

“Daily Balance” means the amount of the Obligations owed at the end of a given day.

“DeRemate Acquisition” means the purchase of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the DeRemate Subsidiaries in accordance with the general terms set forth in the October 24 Term Sheet and the Framework Agreement.

“DeRemate Subsidiaries” means the DR Subsidiaries, as defined in the October 24 Term Sheet.

 

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“Equipment” means all present and future machinery, equipment, tenant improvements, furniture, fixtures, vehicles, tools, parts and attachments in which Borrower has any interest.

“ERISA” means the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, and the regulations thereunder.

“Event of Default” has the meaning assigned in Article 8.

“Framework Agreement” means the Framework Agreement dated as of October 28, 2005, among Borrower and the other Parties named therein in the form attached hereto as Exhibit C .

“GAAP” means United States generally accepted accounting principles as in effect from time to time.

“Guaranty” means a guaranty in substantially the form attached hereto as Exhibit D .

“Indebtedness” means (a) all indebtedness for borrowed money or the deferred purchase price of property or services, including without limitation reimbursement and other obligations with respect to surety bonds and letters of credit, (b) all obligations evidenced by notes, bonds, debentures or similar instruments, (c) all capital lease obligations and (d) all Contingent Obligations.

“Insolvency Proceeding” means any proceeding commenced by or against any person or entity under any provision of the United States Bankruptcy Code, as amended, or under any other Bankruptcy or insolvency law, including assignments for the benefit of creditors, formal or informal moratoria, compositions, extension generally with its creditors, or proceedings seeking reorganization, arrangement, or other relief.

“Intellectual Property” means all right, title, and interest of Borrower and each Subsidiary in and to Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, domain names, URL’s websites, and other intellectual property.

“Inventory” has the meaning assigned in the Code.

“Investment” means any beneficial ownership of (including stock, partnership interest or other securities) any Person, or any loan, advance or capital contribution to any Person.

“IRC” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the regulations thereunder.

“Lien” means any mortgage, lien, deed of trust, charge, pledge, security interest or other encumbrance.

“Loan Documents” means, collectively, this Agreement, any note or notes executed by Borrower, any guaranties of the Obligations, and any other agreement entered into in connection with this Agreement, all as amended or extended from time to time.

 

3


“Material Adverse Effect” means a material adverse effect on (i) the business, operations, condition (financial or otherwise) or prospects of Borrower and its Subsidiaries taken as a whole or (ii) the ability of Borrower to repay the Obligations or otherwise perform its obligations under the Loan Documents or (iii) the value or priority of Lender’s security interests in the Collateral.

“Maturity Date” means the earlier of (i) the fifth anniversary of the Closing Date or (ii) fifteen (15) days after Borrower’s receipt of proceeds from the sale or issuance of its equity securities after the Closing Date, or, if such issuance is Borrower’s initial public offering, then the Business Day that Borrower receives proceeds from such initial public offering.

“Negotiable Collateral” means all of Borrower’s present and future letters of credit of which it is a beneficiary, notes, drafts, instruments, securities, documents of title, and chattel paper, and Borrower’s Books relating to any of the foregoing.

“Obligations” means all debt, principal, interest, Lender Expenses and other amounts owed to Lender by Borrower pursuant to this Agreement or any other agreement, whether absolute or contingent, due or to become due, now existing or hereafter arising, including any interest that accrues after the commencement of an Insolvency Proceeding.

“October 24 Term Sheet” means that certain term sheet dated as of October 24, 2005, describing, among other things, the acquisition by Borrower of all the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of certain DeRemate subsidiaries described therein, in the form attached hereto as Exhibit B .

“Patents” means all patents, patent applications and like protections including without limitation improvements, divisions, continuations, renewals, reissues, extensions and continuations-in-part of the same.

“Periodic Payments” means all installments or similar recurring payments that Borrower may now or hereafter become obligated to pay to Lender pursuant to the terms and provisions of any instrument, or agreement now or hereafter in existence between Borrower and Lender.

“Permitted Indebtedness” means:

(a) Indebtedness of Borrower in favor of Lender arising under this Agreement or any other Loan Document;

(b) Indebtedness disclosed in the Schedule;

(c) Indebtedness incurred after September 30, 2005 in the ordinary course of business in a manner that is consistent with past practice;

(d) Indebtedness secured by a lien described in clause (c) of the defined term “Permitted Liens,” provided (i) such Indebtedness does not exceed the lesser of the cost or fair market value of the equipment financed with such Indebtedness and (ii) such Indebtedness does not exceed $500,000 in the aggregate at any given time;

(e) Subordinated Debt;

 

4


(f) any Indebtedness not to exceed an aggregate principal of US$2,000,000; and

(g) accounts payable arising in the ordinary course of Borrower’s business.

“Permitted Investment” means:

(a) Investments existing as of September 30, 2005 disclosed in the Schedule; and

(b) (i) marketable direct obligations issued or unconditionally guaranteed by (x) the United States of America or any agency or any State thereof or (y) corporation organized in any state of the United States of America whose securities are considered “investment grade”, which are maturing within five (5) years from the date of acquisition thereof, (ii) commercial paper maturing no more than one (1) year from the date of creation thereof and currently having rating of at least A-2 or P-2 from either Standard & Poor’s Corporation or Moody’s Investors Service, (iii) certificates of deposit maturing no more than one (1) year from the date of investment therein and (iv) money market accounts or (v) investment funds that invest in any of the investments described in clauses (i) through (iv) above.

“Permitted Liens” means the following:

(a) Any Liens disclosed in the Schedule, or arising under this Agreement or the other Loan Documents;

(b) Liens for taxes, fees, assessments or other governmental charges or levies, either not delinquent or being contested in good faith by appropriate proceedings, provided the same have no priority over any of Lender’s security interests;

(c) Liens (i) upon or in any equipment which was not financed by Lender acquired or held by Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries to secure the purchase price of such equipment or indebtedness incurred solely for the purpose of financing the acquisition of such equipment, or (ii) existing on such equipment at the time of its acquisition, provided that the Lien is confined solely to the property so acquired and improvements thereon, and the proceeds of such equipment; and

(d) Liens incurred in connection with the extension, renewal or refinancing of the indebtedness secured by Liens of the type described in clauses (a) through (c) above, provided that any extension, renewal or replacement Lien shall be limited to the property encumbered by the existing Lien and the principal amount of the indebtedness being extended, renewed or refinanced does not increase.

“Person” means any individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, trust, unincorporated organization, association, corporation, institution, public benefit corporation, firm, joint stock company, estate, entity or governmental agency.

 

5


“Pledged Collateral” means the Pledged Shares and any securities, instruments or distributions of any kind issuable, issued or received by Borrower upon conversion of, in respect of, or in exchange for any of the Pledged Shares, including, but not limited to, those arising from a stock dividend, stock split, reclassification, reorganization, merger, consolidation, sale of assets or other exchange of securities or any dividends or other distributions of any kind upon or with respect to the Pledged Shares and all proceeds and substitutions of any of the foregoing, including, without limitation, all interest, dividends, other property paid thereon, and all other cash and noncash proceeds of the foregoing.

“Pledged Shares” means all shares of capital stock, membership units, partnership interests, or other equity interests that Borrower now owns or hereafter acquires in DeRemate, MercadoLibre, S.A., MercadoLivre.COM Atividades de Internet Ltda., MercadoLibre S.A., MercadoLibre de Colombia, S.A., MercadoLibre, S.A. de C.V., and MercadoLibre Chile, S.R.L. and such other Subsidiaries as may from time to time exist.

“Responsible Officer” means each of the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the Controller of Borrower.

“Schedule” means the schedule of exceptions attached hereto and approved by Lender, if any.

“Subordinated Debt” means any debt incurred by Borrower that is subordinated to the debt owing by Borrower to Lender on terms acceptable to Lender (and identified as being such by Borrower and Lender).

“Subsidiary” means any corporation, company or partnership in which (i) any general partnership interest or (ii) more than 50% of the stock or other units of ownership which by the terms thereof has the ordinary voting power to elect the Board of Directors, managers or trustees of the entity, at the time as of which any determination is being made, is owned by Borrower, either directly or through an Affiliate.

“Trademarks” means any trademark and servicemark rights, whether registered or not, applications to register and registrations of the same and like protections, and the entire goodwill of the business of Borrower connected with and symbolized by such trademarks.

1.2 Accounting Terms. All accounting terms not specifically defined herein shall be construed in accordance with GAAP and all calculations made hereunder shall be made in accordance with GAAP. When used herein, the terms “financial statements” shall include the notes and schedules thereto.

 

  2. L OAN A ND T ERMS O F P AYMENT .

2.1 Advance. Subject to and upon the terms and conditions of this Agreement, Lender shall make one (1) Advance to Borrower in a principal amount of up to Twelve Million Dollars (US$12,000,000) on November 7, 2005. Lender shall pay the proceeds of the Advance directly into the Escrow Account, as defined in the Framework Agreement. Borrower shall use the proceeds of the Advance solely to make advances in accordance with the October 24 Term Sheet and the Framework Agreement to enable Borrower to complete the

 

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acquisition of the capital stock of the DR Subsidiaries other than DRA and DRC and the Purchased DR Assets, in accordance with, and as those terms are defined under, the Framework Agreement. No portion of the balance shall be used to pay the penalty referred to on page 1 of the October 24 Term Sheet.

2.2 Interest Rates, Default Rate, and Payments.

(a) Interest Rates. Except as set forth in Section 2.2(a), each Advance shall bear interest, on the outstanding Daily Balance thereof, at a rate equal to seven percent (7%) per annum. All interest chargeable under the Loan Documents shall be computed on the basis of a three hundred sixty (360) day year for the actual number of days elapsed. All Obligations shall bear interest, from and after the occurrence and during the continuance of an Event of Default, at a rate equal to three (3) percentage points per annum above the interest rate applicable immediately prior to the occurrence of the Event of Default.

(b) Payments. Borrower shall make interest-only payments, payable annually on each anniversary date of the Closing Date for so long as any Advances are outstanding. Any interest not paid when due shall be compounded by becoming a part of the Obligations, and such interest shall thereafter accrue interest at the rate then applicable hereunder. Borrower shall pay the entire outstanding principal amount plus all accrued and unpaid interest and fees on the Maturity Date, which shall be the earlier of (i) the fifth anniversary of the Closing Date or (ii) fifteen (15) days after Borrower’s receipt of proceeds from the sale or issuance of its equity securities after the Closing Date, including Borrower’s initial public offering. Borrower may prepay any Advances, in whole or in part, without penalty or premium, but may not reborrow any amounts, once repaid. If the Escrow at any time closes before the purchases of the Requisite Shares, or if the transactions contemplated in the October 24 Term Sheet and the Framework Agreement are not consummated by December 1, 2005, Borrower shall immediately repay the Advance and all accrued interest.

(c) Payments Clear of Taxes. Any and all payments under this Agreement and the Notes shall be made free and clear of, and without deduction or withholding for, any and all present or future federal, state, local and foreign taxes, levies, imposts, deductions, charges or withholdings, and all liabilities with respect thereto, excluding any taxes as are imposed on or measured by Lender’s net income (“Taxes”). If Borrower shall be required by law to deduct any Taxes from or in respect of any sum payable hereunder or under the Notes, (i) the sum payable shall be increased as much as shall be necessary so that after making all required deductions, Lender shall receive an amount equal to the sum it would have received had no such deductions been made, (ii) Borrower shall make such deductions, and (iii) Borrower shall pay the full amount deducted to the relevant taxing or other authority in accordance with applicable law. In addition, Borrower agrees to pay any present or future stamp or documentary taxes or any other excise or property taxes, charges or similar levies that arise from any payment made under this Agreement or the Notes or from the execution, delivery or registration of, or otherwise with respect to, this Agreement.

2.3 Term. This Agreement shall become effective on the Closing Date and, subject to Section 12.7, shall continue in full force and effect for so long as any Obligations remain outstanding or Lender has any obligation to make Advances under this Agreement. Notwithstanding termination, Lender’s Lien on the Collateral shall remain in effect for so long as any Obligations are outstanding.

 

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  3. C ONDITIONS O F A DVANCE .

3.1 Conditions Precedent to Advance. The obligation of Lender to make the Advance is subject to the condition precedent that Lender shall have received, in form and substance satisfactory to Lender, the following:

(a) this Agreement, duly executed by Borrower;

(b) a certificate of the Secretary of Borrower with respect to incumbency and resolutions authorizing the execution and delivery of this Agreement;

(c) UCC National Form Financing Statement;

(d) Certification by Borrower that all conditions to purchase stock under the Framework Agreement have been satisfied or waived and that the transactions contemplated by the Framework Agreement will be consummated as of the date that the proceeds of the Advance will be paid from the Escrow Account;

(e) a Guaranty from each of the Subsidiaries listed on Schedule      ;

(f) evidence that all requisite consents, approvals and authorizations necessary to consummate the DeRemate Acquisition have been obtained; and

(g) evidence that the representations and warranties contained in Section 5 shall be true and correct in all material respects on the date of the Advance and no Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing, or would exist after giving effect to such Advance.

 

  4. C REATION O F S ECURITY I NTEREST .

4.1 Grant of Security Interest. To secure prompt payment of any and all Obligations and in order to secure prompt performance by Borrower of each of its covenants and duties under the Loan Documents, Borrower grants to Lender a continuing security interest under New York and Delaware law in all presently existing and hereafter acquired or arising Collateral, including the Pledged Collateral. Such security interest constitutes a valid, first priority security interest under New York and Delaware law in the presently existing Collateral, and will constitute a valid, first priority security interest under New York and Delaware law in Collateral acquired after the date hereof.

4.2 Delivery of Additional Documentation. Borrower shall from time to time execute and deliver to Lender all Negotiable Collateral, all financing statements and other documents that Lender may reasonably request, in form satisfactory to Lender, to perfect and continue the perfection of Lender’s security interests in the Collateral and in order to fully consummate all of the transactions contemplated under the Loan Documents. The certificate or certificates for the securities of Mercadolibre, S.A. and Mercadolibre, S.A. de C.V. included in

 

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the Pledged Collateral, accompanied by an instrument of assignment duly executed in blank by Borrower, have been, or will be as soon as possible and, in any case, within 30 days after execution and delivery hereof by Borrower, delivered by Borrower to Lender solely to perfect Lender’s security interest therein. As soon as possible and, in any case, within 30 days after the date hereof, Borrower shall cause the pledge of the shares of MercadoLivre.COM Atividades de Internet Ltda. to be evidenced in such registry in Brazil as is appropriate to perfect Lender’s Lien in such shares. Borrower shall cause the books of Borrower and any Subsidiary or other entity the stock of which constitutes Pledged Collateral (each a “Pledging Entity” and collectively, the “Pledging Entities”) to reflect the pledge of the Pledged Collateral. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, Lender hereby agrees and acknowledges that Borrower shall have the right to vote any of the shares included in the Pledged Collateral at any and all meetings of the Pledging Entities’ stockholders to the same extent as if such Pledged Collateral were held by the Borrower and shall maintain all its voting rights as a stockholder in the Pledging Entities, provided that, upon the occurrence of an Event of Default hereunder and after Lender exhausts any remedies available to Lender under Section 9.1(a) and Borrower and/or any of the Subsidiaries shall fail to immediately satisfy in full the Obligations hereunder, (i) Borrower thereafter shall not have any right to vote such shares, and all such rights immediately shall be vested in Lender, and (ii) Lender may effect the transfer of any securities included in the Pledged Collateral into the name of Lender or its assignee(s) and cause new certificates representing such securities to be issued in the name of Lender. Lender acknowledges that, based on Borrower’s representation that the aggregate business of Mercadolibre, S.A., Mercadolibre, S.A. de C.V. and MercadoLivre.com Atividades de Internet Ltda. constitutes at least 90% of Borrower’s consolidated operations, Lender has agreed that Borrower need not register the pledge made hereunder in the Pledged Collateral of the other Pledging Entities unless an uncured Event of Default occurs, provided that if any other Subsidiary acquires any material assets or contributes a substantial amount to Borrower’s consolidated operations, Lender may require Borrower to effect the registration of this pledge as to such other Subsidiary. Subject to the previous sentence, Borrower will execute and deliver such documents, and take or cause to be taken such actions, as Lender may reasonably request to perfect or continue the perfection of Lender’s security interest in the Pledged Collateral. Upon full payment of all amounts due to the Lender under the Loan Documents, Lender shall return any and all securities, certificates or other evidence of ownership of capital stock included in the Pledged Collateral to Borrower or its assignee(s) or successor. Lender will execute and deliver such documents, and take or cause to be taken such actions, as Borrower may reasonably request for purposes of registering the termination of any Liens in favor of Lender in the Pledged Collateral or any portion thereof.

4.3 Right to Inspect. Solely in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Loan Documents and matters relating to the Collateral, Lender (through any of its officers, employees, or agents) shall have the right, upon reasonable prior notice, from time to time during Borrower’s usual business hours to inspect Borrower’s Books and to make copies thereof (or at Lender’s option, Borrower shall deliver copies thereof to Lender) and to check, test, and appraise the Collateral in order to verify Borrower’s financial condition or the amount, condition of, or any other matter relating to, the Collateral.

4.4 Subsidiary Collateral. At the request of Lender, Borrower shall cause the Subsidiaries to execute and deliver such security agreements and other documents as Lender reasonably deems appropriate to secure performance of any guaranties with a first priority Lien on the assets of each such Subsidiary, subject to Permitted Liens.

 

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  5. R EPRESENTATIONS A ND W ARRANTIES .

Borrower represents and warrants as follows:

5.1 Due Organization and Qualification. Borrower and each Subsidiary is a corporation duly existing under the laws of its jurisdiction of incorporation and qualified and licensed to do business in any jurisdiction in which the conduct of its business or its ownership of property requires that it be so qualified, except where failure to be so qualified or licensed would not give rise to a Material Adverse Effect.

5.2 Due Authorization; No Conflict or Consent. The execution, delivery, and performance of the Loan Documents are within Borrower’s powers, have been duly authorized, and are not in conflict with nor constitute a breach of any provision contained in Borrower’s Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws, nor will they constitute an event of default under any material agreement to which Borrower is a party or by which Borrower is bound. Borrower is not in default under any material agreement to which it is a party or by which it is bound, to the extent such default would give rise a Material Adverse Effect.

5.3 October 24 Term Sheet; Framework Agreement. The October 24 Term Sheet and the Framework Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereunder have been duly executed and delivered and performed in accordance with their terms by the respective parties thereto. Immediately after giving effect to the terms of the Framework Agreement and the assignments to be executed and delivered thereunder, Borrower will have acquired and will have good and marketable title to a majority of the outstanding equity interests of certain subsidiaries of DeRemate, identified in the October 24 Term Sheet and the Framework Agreement, free and clear of all claims, liens, pledges and encumbrances of any kind. All actions and proceedings required by the Term Sheet and Framework Agreement, applicable law or regulation (including, but not limited to, compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Anti-Trust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, if applicable) have been taken and the transactions required thereunder have been duly and validly taken and consummated. No court of competent jurisdiction has issued any injunction, restraining order or other order which prohibits consummation of the transactions described in the Term Sheet or Framework Agreement and no governmental or other action or proceeding has been threatened or commenced, seeking any injunction, restraining order or other order which seeks to void or otherwise modify the transactions described in the Term Sheet and Framework Agreement.

5.4 No Prior Encumbrances. Borrower has good and marketable title to its property, free and clear of Liens, except for Permitted Liens.

5.5 Accounts. The Accounts are bona fide existing obligations.

5.6 Intellectual Property. Schedule 5.6 lists the Intellectual Property.

 

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5.7 Name; Location of Chief Executive Office. Borrower has not done business under any name other than that specified on the signature page hereof. The chief executive office of Borrower is located at the address indicated in Section 10 hereof.

5.8 Litigation. Except as set forth in the Schedule, there are no actions or proceedings pending by or against Borrower or any Subsidiary before any court or administrative agency in which an adverse decision could have a Material Adverse Effect, or a material adverse effect on Borrower’s interest or Lender’s security interest in the Collateral.

5.9 No Material Adverse Change in Financial Statements. All consolidated and consolidating financial statements related to Borrower and any Subsidiary that Lender has received from Borrower fairly present in all material respects Borrower’s financial condition as of the date thereof and Borrower’s consolidated and consolidating results of operations for the period then ended. There has not been a material adverse change in the consolidated or the consolidating financial condition of Borrower since the date of the most recent of such financial statements submitted to Lender.

5.10 Solvency, Payment of Debts. Borrower is solvent and able to pay its debts (including trade debts) as they mature.

5.11 Environmental Condition. Except as disclosed in the Schedule, none of Borrower’s or any Subsidiary’s properties or assets has ever been used by Borrower or any Subsidiary or, to the best of Borrower’s knowledge, by previous owners or operators, in the disposal of, or to produce, store, handle, treat, release, or transport, any hazardous waste or hazardous substance other than in accordance with applicable law; to the best of Borrower’s knowledge, none of Borrower’s properties or assets has ever been designated or identified in any manner pursuant to any environmental protection statute as a hazardous waste or hazardous substance disposal site, or a candidate for closure pursuant to any environmental protection statute; no lien arising under any environmental protection statute has attached to any revenues or to any real or personal property owned by Borrower or any Subsidiary; and neither Borrower nor any Subsidiary has received a summons, citation, notice, or directive from the Environmental Protection Agency or any other federal, state or other governmental agency concerning any action or omission by Borrower or any Subsidiary resulting in the releasing, or otherwise disposing of hazardous waste or hazardous substances into the environment.

5.12 Taxes. Borrower and each Subsidiary have filed or caused to be filed all material tax returns required to be filed, and have paid, or have made adequate provision for the payment of, all taxes reflected therein.

5.13 Subsidiaries; Pledged Collateral. Set forth on Schedule 5.13 is a true and complete list as of the Closing Date of Borrower’s interests in the Pledged Shares and the Subsidiaries. Borrower has full power and authority to create a first lien on the respective Pledged Collateral in favor of Lender and no disability or contractual obligation exists that would prohibit Borrower from pledging such Pledged Collateral pursuant to this Agreement. The pledge of the Pledged Collateral does not conflict with nor constitute a breach of any provision contained in the Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws of Borrower nor will the pledge of the Pledged Collateral constitute an event of default under any agreement to which Borrower or any

 

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Subsidiary is a party or by which Borrower or such Subsidiary is bound. Except as set forth on Schedule 5.13, there are no subscriptions, warrants, repurchase obligations, or other options exercisable with respect to the Pledged Collateral. The Pledged Shares have been duly authorized and validly issued, and are fully paid and non-assessable. The Pledged Collateral is not the subject of any present or, to the knowledge of the Borrower, threatened suit, action, arbitration, administrative or other proceeding, and Borrower does not know of any reasonable grounds for the institution of any such proceedings. The pledge of the Pledged Collateral does not conflict with nor constitute a breach of any provision contained in the charter, bylaws or other document governing any Pledging Entity, nor will the pledge of the Pledged Collateral constitute an event of default under any agreement to which any Pledging Entity is a party or by which any Pledging Entity is bound.

5.14 Government Consents. Borrower and each Subsidiary have obtained all material necessary and requisite consents, approvals and authorizations of, made all declarations or filings with, and given all notices to, all governmental authorities that are necessary for the continued operation of Borrower’s and each Subsidiary’s respective businesses as currently conducted.

5.15 Regulatory Compliance, Foreign Assets Control Regulations and Anti-Money Laundering.

(a) General. Borrower is not an “investment company” or a company “controlled” by an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Borrower is not subject to the provisions ERISA, and the regulations thereunder. Borrower is not engaged principally, or as one of the important activities, in the business of extending credit for the purpose of purchasing or carrying margin stock (within the meaning of Regulations T and U of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System). Borrower has not violated any statutes, laws, ordinances or rules applicable to it, violation of which could have a Material Adverse Effect.

(b) OFAC. Borrower (i) is not a Person whose property or interest in property is blocked or that has been determined to be subject to blocking pursuant to Section 1 of Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001 Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism (66 Fed. Reg. 49079 (2001)), (ii) does not knowingly engage in any dealings or transactions prohibited by Section 2 of such executive order, or otherwise knowingly associate with any such person in any manner violative of Section 2, and (iii) is not a Person on the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons published by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury on June 24, 2003, as updated from time to time, or subject to the limitations or prohibitions under any other United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control regulation or executive order.

(c) Patriot Act/FCPA. Borrower is in compliance, in all material respects, with the Patriot Act. No part of the proceeds of the Advances will be used, directly or indirectly, in violation of the laws of the United States or other jurisdiction, for any payments to any governmental official or employee, political party, official of a political party, candidate for political office, or anyone else acting in an official capacity, in order to obtain, retain or direct business or obtain any improper advantage, in violation of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended.

 

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5.16 Deposit and Investment Accounts. Borrower maintains its Investment Property and in the deposit and brokerage accounts listed in the Schedule.

5.17 Full Disclosure. No representation, warranty or other statement made by Borrower in this Agreement contains any untrue statement of a material fact or omits to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements contained in such certificates or statements not misleading.

 

  6. A FFIRMATIVE C OVENANTS .

Until payment in full of all outstanding Obligations, and for so long as Lender may have any commitment to make a Advance hereunder, Borrower shall do all of the following:

6.1 Good Standing. Borrower shall maintain its and each of its material Subsidiaries’ corporate existence and good standing in its jurisdiction of incorporation and maintain qualification in each jurisdiction in which it is required under applicable law to the extent that failure to do so would give rise to a Material Adverse Effect. Borrower shall maintain, and shall cause each of its Subsidiaries to maintain, in force all material licenses, approvals and agreements, to the extent that the loss of which could have a Material Adverse Effect.

6.2 Government Compliance. Borrower shall comply, and shall cause each Subsidiary to comply, with all statutes, laws, ordinances and government rules and regulations to which it is subject, noncompliance with which could have a Material Adverse Effect.

6.3 Financial Statements, Reports, Certificates. Borrower shall deliver to Lender the following, in each case in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to Lender: (a) as soon as available, but in any event within forty-five (45) days after the end of each fiscal quarter, Borrower’s financial statements, prepared in accordance with past practice; (b) as soon as available, but in any event within two hundred seventy (270) days after the end of Borrower’s fiscal year, audited consolidated and consolidating financial statements of Borrower prepared in accordance with GAAP and past practice, consistently applied, together with report on such financial statements of an independent certified public accounting firm; (c) promptly upon receipt of notice thereof, a report of any legal actions pending or threatened against Borrower or any Subsidiary that is reasonably likely to result in damages or costs to Borrower or any Subsidiary of $500,000 or more; and (d) such other financial information as Lender may reasonably request from time to time. Disclosure of any of the information required under this Section 6.3 that is contained in any report to the board of directors of the Borrower (of which Lender is an observer) shall be deemed sufficient for purposes of this Section 6.3.

6.4 Taxes. Borrower shall make, and shall cause each Subsidiary to make, due and timely payment or deposit of all material federal, state, and local taxes, assessments, or contributions required of it by law, except where failure to make such payment, deposit or contribution would not give rise to a Material Adverse Effect, and will execute and deliver to Lender, on demand, appropriate certificates attesting to the payment or deposit thereof (if

 

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applicable); and Borrower will make, and will cause each Subsidiary to make, timely payment or deposit of all material tax payments and withholding taxes required of it by applicable laws except where failure to make such payment, deposit or withholding would not give rise to a Material Adverse Effect and will, upon request, furnish Lender with proof satisfactory to Lender indicating that Borrower or a Subsidiary has made such payments or deposits (if applicable); provided that Borrower or a Subsidiary need not make any payment if the amount or validity of such payment is contested in good faith by appropriate proceedings and is reserved against (to the extent required by GAAP) by Borrower.

6.5 Insurance. Borrower shall maintain in full force and effect all insurance policies that exist of the date hereof and are listed on Schedule 6.5.

6.6 October 24 Term Sheet; Framework Agreement. Borrower shall acquire all or a portion of the shares of capital stock of DeRemate Subsidiaries in accordance with the terms and conditions of the October 24 Term Sheet and the Framework Agreement. Borrower shall acquire the majority of the outstanding capital stock of DeRemate Subsidiaries with the proceeds of the Advance. Borrower shall not amend the October 24 Term Sheet or the Framework Agreement or waive any provisions thereof without Lender’s prior written consent. Borrower shall cause any Subsidiary created after the date hereof to execute a Guaranty for the benefit of Lender. Upon the consummation of the DeRemate Acquisition, Borrower shall deliver copies of the instruments and agreements executed in connection therewith to Lender.

6.7 Further Assurances. At any time and from time to time Borrower shall execute and deliver such further instruments and take such further action as may reasonably be requested by Lender to effect the purposes of this Agreement.

 

  7. N EGATIVE C OVENANTS .

Until payment in full of the outstanding Obligations or for so long as Lender may have any commitment to make any Advances, Borrower will not do any of the following:

7.1 Dispositions. Convey, sell, lease, transfer or otherwise dispose of (collectively, a “Transfer”), or permit any of its Subsidiaries to Transfer, all or any part of its business, assets or property, other than: (i) Transfers of Inventory in the ordinary course of business; (ii) Transfers of non-exclusive licenses and similar arrangements for the use of the property of Borrower or its Subsidiaries in the ordinary course of business; (iii) Transfers of worn-out or obsolete Equipment or (iv) transfers among Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries.

7.2 Change in Business; Change in Control or Executive Office. Engage in any business, or permit any of its Subsidiaries to engage in any business, other than the businesses currently engaged in by Borrower and any business substantially similar or related thereto (or incidental thereto); or cease to conduct business in the manner conducted by Borrower as of the Closing Date; or suffer or permit a Change in Control; or without thirty (30) days prior written notification to Lender, relocate its chief executive office or state of incorporation or change its legal name; or without Lender’s prior written consent, change the date on which its fiscal year ends.

 

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7.3 Mergers or Acquisitions. Merge or consolidate, or permit any of its Subsidiaries to merge or consolidate, with or into any other business organization, or acquire, or permit any of its Subsidiaries to acquire, all or substantially all of the capital stock or property of another Person in any transaction in which the consideration given exceeds Two Million Dollars (US$2,000,000).

7.4 Indebtedness. Create, incur, assume or be or remain liable with respect to any Indebtedness, or permit any Subsidiary so to do, other than Permitted Indebtedness.

7.5 Encumbrances. Create, incur, assume or suffer to exist any Lien with respect to any of its property, or assign or otherwise convey any right to receive income, including the sale of any Accounts, or permit any of its Subsidiaries so to do, except for Permitted Liens, or agree with any Person other than Lender not to grant a security interest in, or otherwise encumber, any of its property, or permit any Subsidiary to do so.

7.6 Distributions. So long as an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, pay any dividends or make any other distribution or payment on account of or in redemption, retirement or purchase of any capital stock, or permit any of its Subsidiaries to do so, except that (1) Borrower may repurchase the stock of former employees pursuant to stock repurchase agreements as long as an Event of Default does not exist prior to such repurchase or would not exist after giving effect to such repurchase and (2) Subsidiaries may declare and pay upstream dividends to the Borrower.

7.7 Investments. Except otherwise disclosed in Schedule 7.7, directly or indirectly acquire or own, or make any Investment in or to any Person, or permit any of its Subsidiaries so to do, other than the DeRemate Acquisition and Permitted Investments; or maintain or invest any of its property with a Person other than Lender or permit any of its Subsidiaries to do so unless such Person has entered into an account control agreement with Lender in form and substance satisfactory to Lender; or suffer or permit any Subsidiary to be a party to, or be bound by, an agreement that restricts such Subsidiary from paying dividends or otherwise distributing property to Borrower.

7.8 Transactions with Affiliates. Except as otherwise disclosed in Schedule 7.7, directly or indirectly enter into or permit to exist any material transaction with any Affiliate of Borrower except for transactions that are in the ordinary course of Borrower’s business, upon fair and reasonable terms that are no less favorable to Borrower than would be obtained in an arm’s length transaction with a non-affiliated Person.

7.9 Subordinated Debt. Other than in connection with any Permitted Indebtedness, make any payment in respect of any Subordinated Debt, or permit any of its Subsidiaries to make any such payment, except in compliance with the terms of such Subordinated Debt.

7.10 Compliance. Become an “investment company” or be controlled by an “investment company,” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, or become principally engaged in, or undertake as one of its important activities, the business of extending credit for the purpose of purchasing or carrying margin stock, or use the proceeds of any

 

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Advance for such purpose; fail to meet the minimum funding requirements of ERISA or permit a Reportable Event or Prohibited Transaction to occur under ERISA, if applicable, or violate any law or regulation, which violation could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

  8. E VENTS OF D EFAULT .

Any one or more of the following events shall constitute an Event of Default by Borrower under this Agreement:

8.1 Payment Default. If Borrower fails to pay within three (3) calendar days of when due, any of the Obligations;

8.2 Covenant Default. If (1) Borrower fails to perform any obligation under Article 6 or violates any of the covenants contained in Article 7 of this Agreement or (2) Borrower fails or neglects to perform or observe any other material term, provision, condition, covenant contained in this Agreement, in any of the Loan Documents and as to any default under such other term, provision, condition or covenant that can be cured, has failed to cure such default within thirty (30) days after Borrower or any officer of Borrower has knowledge of such default; provided however that if the default cannot after diligent attempts by Borrower be cured within such thirty (30) days period, and such default is likely to be cured within a reasonable time, then Borrower shall have an additional 30 days to attempt to cure such default, and within such reasonable time period the failure to have cured such default shall not be deemed an Event of Default but no Advances will be made.

8.3 Material Adverse Effect. If there occurs any circumstance or circumstances that has a Material Adverse Effect, and Borrower shall have failed to cure the circumstances giving rise to such Material Adverse Effect within 5 days after Borrower or any officer of Borrower has notice of such occurrence.

8.4 Attachment. If any material portion of Borrower’s assets is attached, seized, subjected to a writ or distress warrant, or is levied upon, or comes into the possession of any trustee, receiver or person acting in a similar capacity and such attachment, seizure, writ or distress warrant or levy has not been removed, discharged or rescinded within thirty (30) days, or if Borrower is enjoined, restrained, or in any way prevented by court order from continuing to conduct all or any material part of its business affairs, or if a judgment or other claim becomes a lien or encumbrance upon any material portion of Borrower’s assets, or if a notice of lien, levy, or assessment is filed of record with respect to any of Borrower’s assets by the United States or any other foreign government, or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, or by any state, county, municipal, or governmental agency, and the same is not paid within thirty (30) days after Borrower receives notice thereof, provided that none of the foregoing shall constitute an Event of Default where such action or event is stayed or an adequate bond has been posted pending a good faith contest by Borrower (provided that no Advances will be required to be made during such cure period);

8.5 Insolvency. If Borrower becomes insolvent, or if an Insolvency Proceeding is commenced by Borrower, or if an Insolvency Proceeding is commenced against Borrower and is not dismissed or stayed within sixty (60) days (provided that no Advances will be made prior to the dismissal of such Insolvency Proceeding);

 

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8.6 Other Agreements. If (i) there is a default or other failure to perform in the Framework Agreement or any material agreements entered into pursuant to the Framework Agreement; or (ii) a default under any agreement under which Borrower has incurred Indebtedness resulting in a right by a third party or parties, whether or not exercised, to accelerate the maturity of any Indebtedness in an amount in excess of One Million United States Dollars (US$1,000,000) and such default does not arise from Lender’s failure or refusal to make an Advance in accordance with the terms of this Agreement;

8.7 Judgments. If a judgment or judgments for the payment of money in an amount, individually or in the aggregate, of at least Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000) shall be rendered against Borrower and shall remain unsatisfied and unstayed for a period of thirty (30) days (provided that no Advances will be made prior to the satisfaction or stay of such judgment); or

8.8 Misrepresentations. If Borrower breaches any representation made in Section 5 of this Agreement, or any material misrepresentation or material misstatement exists as of the date hereof in any warranty or representation set forth herein or in any certificate delivered to Lender by any Responsible Officer pursuant to this Agreement or to induce Lender to enter into this Agreement or any other Loan Document.

 

  9. L ENDER S R IGHTS A ND R EMEDIES .

9.1 Rights and Remedies.

(a) Upon the occurrence and during the continuance of an Event of Default, Lender may do any one or more of the following, all of which are authorized by Borrower:

(i) Declare all Obligations, whether evidenced by this Agreement, by any of the other Loan Documents, or otherwise, immediately due and payable (provided that upon the occurrence of an Event of Default described in Section 8.5, all Obligations shall become immediately due and payable without any action by Lender); and

(ii) Cease advancing money or extending credit to or for the benefit of Borrower under this Agreement or under any other agreement between Borrower and Lender.

(b) If after exhausting the remedies set forth in Section 9.1(a), the Obligations are not satisfied in full within five (5) days then Lender may, do any one or more of the following, all of which are authorized by Borrower;

(i) Make such payments and do such acts as Lender considers necessary or reasonable to protect its security interest in the Collateral. Borrower agrees to assemble the Collateral if Lender so requires, and to make the Collateral available to Lender as Lender may designate. Borrower authorizes Lender to enter the premises where the Collateral is

 

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located, to take and maintain possession of the Collateral, or any part of it, and to pay, purchase, contest, or compromise any encumbrance, charge, or lien which in Lender’s determination appears to be prior or superior to its security interest and to pay all expenses incurred in connection therewith. With respect to any of Borrower’s owned premises, Borrower hereby grants Lender a license to enter into possession of such premises and to occupy the same, without charge, in order to exercise any of Lender’s rights or remedies provided herein, at law, in equity, or otherwise;

(ii) Set off and apply to the Obligations any and all (i) balances and deposits of Borrower held by Lender, or (ii) indebtedness at any time owing to or for the credit or the account of Borrower held by Lender;

(iii) Ship, reclaim, recover, store, finish, maintain, repair, prepare for sale, advertise for sale, and sell (in the manner provided for herein) the Collateral. Lender is hereby granted a license or other right, solely pursuant to the provisions of this Section 9.1, to use, without charge, Borrower’s labels, patents, copyrights, rights of use of any name, trade secrets, trade names, trademarks, service marks, and advertising matter, or any property of a similar nature, as it pertains to the Collateral, in completing production of, advertising for sale, and selling any Collateral and, in connection with Lender’s exercise of its rights under this Section 9.1, Borrower’s rights under all licenses and all franchise agreements shall inure to Lender’s benefit; and

(iv) Dispose of the Collateral to any Person by way of one or more contracts or transactions, on an arm’s length basis for cash or on arm’s length terms, in such manner and at such places (including Borrower’s premises) as Lender determines is commercially reasonable, and apply any proceeds to the Obligations in whatever manner or order Lender deems appropriate.

(c) In the event that Lender shall dispose of the Collateral (or any portion thereof) to an Affiliate of Lender other than in a public auction held in accordance with the Uniform Commercial Code, Lender shall first obtain a valuation at Borrower’s expense from an internationally recognized investment bank (a “Valuation Bank”), the selection of which shall be mutually agreed upon by Borrower and Lender. In the event that Borrower and Lender shall fail to agree upon a candidate for a Valuation Bank, then Borrower and Lender shall each choose a Valuation Bank that will agree upon the selection of a third Valuation Bank who shall be the final binding candidate. Any sale or disposition of the Collateral to an Affiliate of Lender other than in a public sale held in accordance with the Uniform Commercial Code shall be based upon the valuation provided by the Valuation Bank.

9.2 Power of Attorney. Effective only upon the occurrence and during the continuance of an Event of Default and after Lender shall have exhausted its remedies under Section 9.1(a) and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in Section 9.1, Borrower hereby irrevocably appoints Lender (and any of Lender’s designated officers, or employees) as Borrower’s true and lawful attorney to: (a) send requests for verification of Accounts or notify account debtors of Lender’s security interest in the Accounts; (b) endorse Borrower’s name on any checks or other forms of payment or security that may come into Lender’s possession; (c) sign Borrower’s name on any invoice or bill of lading relating to any Account, drafts against

 

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account debtors, schedules and assignments of Accounts, verifications of Accounts, and notices to account debtors; (d) dispose of any Collateral; (e) make, settle, and adjust all claims under and decisions with respect to Borrower’s policies of insurance; (f) settle and adjust disputes and claims respecting the accounts directly with account debtors, for amounts and upon terms which Lender determines to be reasonable; and (g) to file, in its sole discretion, one or more financing or continuation statements and amendments thereto, or assignments with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or other government department, agency, or office, relative to any of the Collateral. The appointment of Lender as Borrower’s attorney in fact, and each and every one of Lender’s rights and powers, being coupled with an interest, is irrevocable until all of the Obligations have been fully repaid and performed and Lender’s obligation to provide Advances hereunder is terminated.

9.3 Accounts Collection. Effective only upon the occurrence and during the continuance of an Event of Default and after Lender shall have exhausted its remedies under Section 9.1(a) and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in Section 9.1, Lender may notify any Person owing funds to Borrower of Lender’s security interest in such funds and verify the amount of such Account. Effective only upon the occurrence and during the continuance of an Event of Default and after Lender shall have exhausted its remedies under Section 9.1(a) and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in Section 9.1, Borrower shall collect all amounts owing to Borrower for Lender, receive in trust all payments as Lender’s trustee, and immediately deliver such payments to Lender in their original form as received from the account debtor, with proper endorsements for deposit.

9.4 Pledged Collateral.

(a) Upon the occurrence and during the continuance of an Event of Default and after Lender shall have exhausted its remedies under Section 9.1(a) and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in Section 9.1, Lender shall have the right to exercise all such rights as a secured party under the Code and this Agreement, as it, in its sole judgment, shall deem necessary or appropriate, including the right to sell, on an arm’s length basis, all or any part of the Pledged Collateral at one or more public or private sales made in accordance with the Code and any such sale or sales may be made on arm’s length terms for cash, and in connection therewith, Lender may grant options, provided that any such terms or options shall, in the best judgment of Lender, be extended only in order to obtain the best possible price.

(b) Borrower recognizes that Lender may be unable to effect a public sale of all or a part of the Pledged Collateral by reason of certain prohibitions contained in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Act”), so that Lender may be compelled to resort to one or more private sales to a restricted group of purchasers who will be obliged to agree, among other things, to acquire the Pledged Collateral for their own account, for investment and without a view to the distribution or resale thereof. Borrower understands that private sales so made may be at prices and on other terms less favorable to the seller than if the Pledged Collateral were sold at public sales, and agrees that Lender has no obligation to delay the sale of any of the Pledged Collateral for the period of time necessary (even if Lender would agree), to register such securities for sale under the Act. Borrower agrees that private sales made under the foregoing circumstances shall be deemed to have been made in a commercially reasonable manner.

 

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(c) After the sale of any of the Pledged Collateral, Lender may deduct all reasonable legal and other expenses and attorney’s fees for preserving, collecting, selling and delivering the Pledged Collateral and for enforcing its rights hereunder, and shall apply the residue of the proceeds to the Obligations in such manner as Lender in its reasonable discretion shall determine, and shall pay the balance, if any to Borrower. Any remaining proceeds arising from any sale of the of the Pledged Collateral, after satisfying the obligations described in the immediately preceding sentence, shall be the sole property of Borrower to the extent permitted by law.

9.5 Lender Expenses. Borrower shall pay Lender all reasonable costs of enforcement of the Loan Documents, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, incurred before, during and after an Insolvency Proceeding, whether or not suit is brought.

9.6 Lender’s Liability for Collateral. So long as Lender complies with reasonable commercial practices, and the terms and conditions set forth herein, Lender shall not in any way or manner be liable or responsible for: (a) the safekeeping of the Collateral; (b) any loss or damage thereto occurring or arising in any manner or fashion from any cause; (c) any diminution in the value thereof; or (d) any act or default of any carrier, warehouseman, bailee, forwarding agency, or other person whomsoever. All risk of loss, damage or destruction of the Collateral shall be borne by Borrower.

9.7 Remedies Cumulative. Lender’s rights and remedies under this Agreement, the Loan Documents, and all other agreements shall be cumulative. Lender shall have all other rights and remedies not inconsistent herewith as provided under the Code, by law, or in equity. No exercise by Lender of one right or remedy shall be deemed an election, and no waiver by Lender of any Event of Default on Borrower’s part shall be deemed a continuing waiver. No delay by Lender shall constitute a waiver, election, or acquiescence by it. No waiver by Lender shall be effective unless made in a written document signed on behalf of Lender and then shall be effective only in the specific instance and for the specific purpose for which it was given.

9.8 Demand; Protest. Except as otherwise provided in the Agreement, Borrower waives demand, protest, notice of protest, notice of default or dishonor, notice of payment and nonpayment, notice of any default, nonpayment at maturity, release, compromise, settlement, extension, or renewal of accounts, documents, instruments, chattel paper, and guarantees at any time held by Lender on which Borrower may in any way be liable.

 

  10. N OTICES .

Unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, all notices or demands by any party relating to this Agreement or any other agreement entered into in connection herewith shall be in writing and (except for financial statements and other informational documents which may be sent by first-class mail, postage prepaid) shall be personally delivered or sent by a recognized overnight delivery service, certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, or by telefacsimile to Borrower or to Lender, as the case may be, at its addresses set forth below:

 

If to Borrower:    MercadoLibre, Inc.
  

Tronador 4890

6º Piso

Buenos Aires 1430

Argentina

Attn: Marcos Galperin

FAX: 011-5411-4014-8079

 

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   with a copy to:
  

Hunton & Williams LLP

1111 Brickell Avenue, Suite 2500

Miami, Florida 33129

Attn: Roberto Pupo, Esq.

Fax: (305) 810 2460

If to Lender:    eBay Inc.
  

2145 Hamilton Avenue

San Jose, CA 95125

Attn: Associate General Counsel – Corporate

FAX: (408) 376-7514

The parties hereto may change the address at which they are to receive notices hereunder, by notice in writing in the foregoing manner given to the other. Any notice or demand delivered to a party hereto shall be effective whether or not a copy is delivered to a Person who is not a party.

 

  11. C HOICE O F L AW A ND V ENUE ; J URY T RIAL W AIVER .

This Agreement shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the internal laws of the State of New York, without regard to principles of conflicts of law. Each of Borrower and Lender hereby submits to the jurisdiction of the state and Federal courts located in the Borough of Manhattan in New York, New York. BORROWER AND LENDER EACH HEREBY WAIVE THEIR RESPECTIVE RIGHTS TO A JURY TRIAL OF ANY CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION BASED UPON OR ARISING OUT OF ANY OF THE LOAN DOCUMENTS OR ANY OF THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED THEREIN, INCLUDING CONTRACT CLAIMS, TORT CLAIMS, BREACH OF DUTY CLAIMS, AND ALL OTHER COMMON LAW OR STATUTORY CLAIMS. EACH PARTY RECOGNIZES AND AGREES THAT THE FOREGOING WAIVER CONSTITUTES A MATERIAL INDUCEMENT FOR IT TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT. EACH PARTY REPRESENTS AND WARRANTS THAT IT HAS REVIEWED THIS WAIVER WITH ITS LEGAL COUNSEL AND THAT IT KNOWINGLY AND VOLUNTARILY WAIVES ITS JURY TRIAL RIGHTS FOLLOWING CONSULTATION WITH LEGAL COUNSEL.

If the jury waiver set forth in Section is not enforceable, then any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement, the Loan Documents or any of the transactions contemplated therein shall be settled by final and binding arbitration held in New York, New York in accordance with the then applicable Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. Judgment upon any award resulting from arbitration may be entered into and enforced by any state or federal court having jurisdiction thereof.

 

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  12. G ENERAL P ROVISIONS .

12.1 Successors and Assigns. This Agreement shall bind and inure to the benefit of the respective successors and permitted assigns of each of the parties; provided, however, that neither this Agreement nor any rights hereunder may be assigned by Borrower without Lender’s prior written consent, which consent may be granted or withheld in Lender’s sole discretion. Lender shall have the right without the consent of, but upon notice to, Borrower to sell, transfer, negotiate, or grant participation in all or any part of, or any interest in, Lender’s obligations, rights and benefits hereunder. If the sale, transfer, negotiation or grant is to a Person that is not an Affiliate of Lender, Lender shall give Borrower at least 15 days prior written notice thereof.

12.2 Indemnification. Borrower shall defend, indemnify and hold harmless Lender and its officers, employees, and agents against: (a) all obligations, demands, claims, and liabilities claimed or asserted by any other party in connection with the transactions contemplated by this Agreement; and (b) all losses or Lender Expenses in any way suffered, incurred, or paid by Lender as a result of or in any way arising out of, following, or consequential to transactions between Lender and Borrower whether under this Agreement, or otherwise (including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses), except for losses caused by Lender’s gross negligence or willful misconduct.

12.3 Time of Essence. Time is of the essence for the performance of all obligations set forth in this Agreement.

12.4 Severability of Provisions. Each provision of this Agreement shall be severable from every other provision of this Agreement for the purpose of determining the legal enforceability of any specific provision.

12.5 Amendments in Writing, Integration. Neither this Agreement nor the Loan Documents can be amended or terminated orally. All prior agreements, understandings, representations, warranties, and negotiations between the parties hereto with respect to the subject matter of this Agreement and the Loan Documents, if any, are merged into this Agreement and the Loan Documents.

12.6 Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts and by different parties on separate counterparts, each of which, when executed and delivered, shall be deemed to be an original, and all of which, when taken together, shall constitute but one and the same Agreement.

12.7 Survival. All covenants, representations and warranties made in this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect so long as any Obligations remain outstanding or Lender has any obligation to make Advances to Borrower. The obligations of Borrower to indemnify Lender with respect to the expenses, damages, losses, costs and liabilities described in Section 12.2 shall survive until all applicable statute of limitations periods with respect to actions that may be brought against Lender have run.

 

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12.8 Confidentiality. In handling any confidential information Lender and all employees and agents of Lender, including but not limited to accountants, shall exercise the same degree of care that it exercises with respect to its own proprietary information of the same types to maintain the confidentiality of any non-public information thereby received or received pursuant to this Agreement except that disclosure of such information may be made (i) to the subsidiaries or affiliates of Lender in connection with their present or prospective business relations with Borrower, (ii) to prospective transferees or purchasers of any interest in the Loans, provided that they have entered into a comparable confidentiality agreement in favor of Borrower and have delivered a copy to Borrower, (iii) as required by law, regulations, rule or order, subpoena, judicial order or similar order, (iv) as may be required in connection with the examination, audit or similar investigation of Lender and (v) as Lender may determine in connection with the enforcement of any remedies hereunder. Confidential information hereunder shall not include information that either: (a) is in the public domain or in the knowledge or possession of Lender when disclosed to Lender, or becomes part of the public domain after disclosure to Lender through no fault of Lender; or (b) is disclosed to Lender by a third party, provided Lender does not have actual knowledge that such third party is prohibited from disclosing such information.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be executed as of the date first above written.

 

M ERCADO L IBRE , I NC .
By:   /s/ Marcos Galperin
Title:      
eB AY I NC .
By:   /s/ illegible
Title:   Assistant Secretary

 

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DEBTOR:    M ERCADO L IBRE , I NC .
SECURED PARTY:    eB AY I NC .

EXHIBIT A

COLLATERAL DESCRIPTION ATTACHMENT

TO LOAN AND SECURITY AGREEMENT

All personal property of Borrower (herein referred to as “Borrower” or “Debtor”) whether presently existing or hereafter created or acquired, and wherever located, including, but not limited to:

(a) all accounts, chattel paper (including tangible and electronic chattel paper), deposit accounts, documents (including negotiable documents), equipment (including all accessions and additions thereto), general intangibles (including patents, trademarks, copyrights, goodwill, payment intangibles and software), goods (including fixtures), instruments (including promissory notes), inventory (including all goods held for sale or lease or to be furnished under a contract of service, and including returns and repossessions), investment property (including securities and securities entitlements), letter of credit rights, money, and all of Debtor’s books and records with respect to any of the foregoing, and the computers and equipment containing said books and records;

(b) all capital stock, membership units or other equity interests that Debtor now owns or hereafter acquires, in MercadoLibre, S.A., MercadoLivre.COM Atividades de Internet Ltda., MercadoLibre S.A., MercadoLibre de Colombia, S.A., MercadoLibre, S.A. de C.V., MercadoLibre Chile, S.R.L. and any other Subsidiaries (the “Pledged Shares”) together with any securities, instruments or distributions of any kind issuable, issued or received by Debtor upon conversion of, in respect of, or in exchange for any of the Pledged Shares, including, but not limited to, those arising from a stock dividend, stock split, reclassification, reorganization, merger, consolidation, sale of assets or other exchange of securities or any dividends or other distributions of any kind upon or with respect to the Pledged Shares; and

(c) any and all cash proceeds and/or noncash proceeds of any of the foregoing, including, without limitation, interest, dividends, other property paid thereon, insurance proceeds, and all supporting obligations and the security therefor or for any right to payment. All terms above have the meanings given to them in the New York Uniform Commercial Code.

 

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Exhibit 10.09

STRATEGIC ALLIANCE AGREEMENT

T HIS S TRATEGIC A LLIANCE A GREEMENT (the “Agreement”) is made as of September 24, 2001 (the “Effective Date”) by and between E B AY I NC . , a Delaware corporation located at 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose CA 95125 (“eBay”), and M ERCADO L IBRE , I NC . a Delaware corporation located at Thames 121, 2o. piso, San Isidro, B1609JUC, Acassuso 1609, Argentina (“MercadoLibre”).

B ACKGROUND

In connection with the purchase of Series E-l Preferred Stock and Series E-2 Preferred Stock of MercadoLibre by eBay pursuant to the parties’ Securities Purchase Agreement dated as of the date hereof, and the sale of iBazar Com Ltda by eBay to MercadoLibre pursuant to the Quota Purchase Agreement dated as of the date hereof, the parties would like to establish a strategic relationship in which eBay would promote MercadoLibre on eBay’s web site and eBay would assist MercadoLibre in developing its operations in Latin America.

The parties therefore agree as follows:

A GREEMENT

1. O BLIGATIONS .

1.1 Links. eBay will include on the home page of its web site (http://www.ebay.com, the “eBay Site”) at least one, but not more than three, hyperlink(s) (collectively the “Link to MercadoLibre”) to the home page of those MercadoLibre web sites requested by MercadoLibre (“MercadoLibre Linked Site(s)”). After consultation with MercadoLibre, eBay will determine, in its discretion, the target URL address, content, size, and placement of the Link to MercadoLibre. MercadoLibre will include on the home pages of the MercadoLibre web sites that provide Internet Trading Services (as defined in Section 4.1) (the “MercadoLibre Site(s)”), a hyperlink to the eBay home page (the “Link to eBay”). After consultation with eBay, MercadoLibre will determine, in its discretion, the content, size, and placement of the Link to eBay. For purposes of this Agreement, “Site(s)” means, with respect to eBay, the eBay Site, and with respect to MercadoLibre, the MercadoLibre Site(s). Each party (the linking party) reserves the right to immediately remove the hyperlink(s) to the other party’s (the linked party’s) Site(s) (without notice and in the linking party’s sale discretion), if the linked party breaches any of its obligations in the Agreement or if the linking party reasonably believes that the actions of the linked party may cause legal liability for the linking party. However, the linking party will replace such hyperlink(s) if and when (in the linking party’s discretion) the linked party has cured such breach or the risk of such legal liability for the linking party has abated.

1.2 User Data. Each party covenants that it will (a) adhere to its own privacy policy, which it represents reflects the best practices in the markets in which it offers its Internet Trading Service and (b) not target or solicit users of the other party’s Site for marketing or registration on the basis of their status as users of the other party’s Site. Notwithstanding the foregoing, each party may enable the registration of users when such users link to that party’s Site (using the Link to MercadoLibre or the Link to eBay, as applicable). The parties will not share user data with each other.

 

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1.3 Business Development.

1.3.1. Quarterly Meetings. The parties will jointly schedule a meeting at least once during each fiscal quarter to discuss the business progress of MercadoLibre. In consultation with MercadoLibre, eBay will set the agenda and discussion topics for such meetings and MercadoLibre will use its commercially reasonable efforts to provide eBay with information regarding its business progress and other information relevant to the agenda and discussion topics of each meeting.

1.3.2. Information Exchange. The parties will use commercially reasonable efforts to jointly facilitate information exchange between the parties’ organizations in the area of Internet Trading Services (as defined in Section 4.1), which may include, without limitation, eBay’s strategy for (a) information technology development, (b) finding and developing on-line trading communities, (c) performing customer service, (d) furthering the liquidity of categories, (e) performing press communications that help in furthering an on-line trading community, and (f) increasing the monetization of the Site. eBay will determine, in its discretion, the types and content of information that it will share with MercadoLibre and the functional groups that will participate in such information exchange. The parties acknowledge that this information exchange will include Confidential Information (as defined in Section 3 (Confidentiality)). Each party will appoint a contact person to assist in this information exchange and communication between the parties.

1.3.3. Business Negotiations. eBay will use commercially reasonable efforts to assist MercadoLibre in negotiations with global business partners with whom eBay has business relationships where eBay reasonably determines that such assistance is commercially practicable. eBay will consult with MercadoLibre to identify appropriate opportunities in which eBay’s assistance may be commercially practicable.

1.3.4. Press Releases. eBay will use its commercially reasonable efforts to include MercadoLibre in its press releases whenever it is appropriate, in eBay’s discretion. Neither party shall issue any press releases or public statements concerning the existence or terms of this Strategic Alliance Agreement or any agreements to which it is related (including without limitation the Securities Purchase Agreement and the Quota Purchase Agreement) without the prior written consent of the other party (which will not be unreasonably withheld), except to the extent required for legal or regulatory compliance.

2. L ICENSES .

2.1 Trademarks. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, eBay hereby grants to MercadoLibre a non-exclusive, limited, revocable, nonassignable, and royalty-free authorization to use those trademarks, service marks, branding elements, and other indicia of origin (“Marks”) owned by or licensed to eBay that are provided by eBay to MercadoLibre pursuant to this Agreement (the “eBay Marks”) in the Territory to provide the Link to eBay for other online promotions of eBay in a manner consistent with this Agreement, and for any off-line promotions

 

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approved in writing in advance (provided that any request will be deemed approved after five business days if notice of non-approval is not sent during such period). Subject to the terms of this Agreement, MercadoLibre hereby grants to eBay a non-exclusive, limited, worldwide, revocable, nonassignable, and royalty-free authorization to use those Marks owned by or licensed to MercadoLibre that are provided by MercadoLibre to eBay (the “MercadoLibre Marks”) to provide the Link to MercadoLibre, to promote MercadoLibre online in a manner consistent this Agreement, and for any off-line promotions approved in writing in advance (provided that any request will be deemed approved after five business days if notice of non-approval is not sent during such period).

2.2 Trademark Restrictions. The Mark licenses in Section 2.1 (Trademarks) are subject to the following restrictions. If the Mark licensor determines, in its reasonable discretion, that the licensee’s use of the licensor’s Marks tarnishes, blurs or dilutes the quality associated with such Marks or their associated goodwill, the Mark licensor may at its option terminate the foregoing license as to the objectionable use or in its entirety if the licensee does not cease such objectionable use within five (5) days’ written notice of breach. Title to and ownership of the licensor’s Marks shall remain with the licensor and its suppliers. The licensee shall use the Marks exactly in the form provided and in conformance with any trademark usage policies provided by the Mark licensor to the licensee. The licensee shall not take any action inconsistent with the licensor’s ownership of the Marks, and any benefits accruing from use of such Marks shall automatically vest in and inure to the benefit of the licensor. The licensee shall not form any combination marks with the licensor’s Marks. Without limiting the foregoing, the licensee will use the licensor’s Marks in conformance with the licensor’s trademark usage policies. MercadoLibre hereby admits and recognizes the renown of the eBay Marks worldwide.

2.3 Trade Secrets.

(a) Of eBay. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, eBay hereby grants MercadoLibre a nonexclusive and nonassignable license to internally use and reproduce the Confidential Information (as defined in Section 3 (Confidentiality)) disclosed by eBay to MercadoLibre pursuant to this Agreement in the Territory for the sole purpose of operating the MercadoLibre Site.

(b) Of MercadoLibre. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, MercadoLibre hereby grants eBay a nonexclusive and nonassignable license to internally use and reproduce the Confidential Information (as defined in Section 3 (Confidentiality)) disclosed by MercadoLibre to eBay pursuant to this Agreement for the sole purpose of providing eBay’s services to its users.

2.4 Intellectual Property Rights. Except as expressly set forth in the Agreement, no intellectual property rights are licensed, assigned or otherwise conferred under this Agreement. Each party shall maintain ownership of all its intellectual property rights.

3. C ONFIDENTIALITY . Each party may disclose to the other party information that the disclosing party considers proprietary or confidential. For purposes of this Agreement, “Confidential Information” means any information disclosed by the disclosing party that is marked as proprietary or confidential (if disclosed in tangible form), identified as proprietary or

 

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confidential when disclosed (if disclosed in oral or visual form), or that the receiving party should reasonably know is considered confidential or proprietary by the disclosing party. The receiving party will hold all Confidential Information of the disclosing party in confidence and shall not disclose any such Confidential Information to any third party (except to third party contractors that are subject to confidentiality obligations no less restrictive than this Section 3) nor shall the receiving party use such Confidential Information for any purpose other than performance of its obligations under this Agreement; provided, however, that the obligations in this Section 3 (Confidentiality) shall not apply to Confidential Information that the receiving party can prove (a) was within the rightful possession of the receiving party, without a duty of confidentiality, prior to its disclosure, (b) was rightfully disclosed to the receiving party with no duty of confidentiality, (c) becomes, through no act or fault of the receiving party, publicly known, or (d) is independently developed by the receiving party without reference to the Confidential Information. In addition, the restriction on disclosure will not apply to the extent that Confidential Information is legally required to be disclosed to a court, government agency, or regulatory body, provided that the receiving party will notify the disclosing party of such disclosure requirement, providing a reasonable amount of time for the disclosing party to seek confidential treatment or a protective order for such Confidential Information.

4. T ERRITORY .

4.1 Initial Period. For an initial period of three (3) years from the Effective Date (the “Initial Period”), neither eBay nor its subsidiaries will (a) make any direct investment in Deremate, Lokau, or any other company that provides a platform on the internet for auction-style trading (“Internet Trading Service,” which expressly excludes (without limitation) a platform on the internet for fixed-price trading if such platform does not also provide auction-style trading) predominantly based in and targeted to users in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean countries listed in Exhibit A (collectively, the “Territory”), (b) launch any Internet Trading Service targeted to a specific country or countries in the Territory, or (c) launch a regional Internet Trading Service targeted at the Territory as a whole; provided, however, that eBay may invest in, acquire, or merge with any company providing an Internet Trading Service that is based in or targeted to users in the Territory if ten percent (10%) or less of such company’s worldwide revenues are comprised by the aggregate of the revenue of such Internet Trading Service in the Territory as a whole. eBay acknowledges that a material benefit for MercadoLibre to enter into this Agreement and the Quota Purchase Agreement is the benefit that MercadoLibre will receive from the covenants of eBay contained in this Section 4.1 (as may be extended in Section 4.2).

4.2 Extension.

(a) If MercadoLibre (which, for the purposes of this Section 4.2 only, includes its wholly-owned subsidiaries) holds the Leading Market Position in Internet Trading Services at the end of the Initial Period in each of Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, eBay’s obligations in Section 4.1 (Initial Period) will be extended for an additional two (2) years upon the conclusion of the Initial Period. The determination of Leading Market Position will be made in accordance with this Section 4.2 and through commercially reasonable means, including but not limited to data sampling from the MercadoLibre Sites and competitor sites, audit data, and other research.

 

4


(b) MercadoLibre warrants that it will not take any actions to artificially inflate GMS or Revenue. The parties will collect data relevant to the Leading Market Position calculation during the last fun calendar month prior to the end of the Initial Period and will make the determination of Leading Market Position before the expiration of the Initial Period. If the Initial Period is extended in accordance with 4.2(a), eBay will reserve the right to re-evaluate whether MercadoLibre holds the Leading Market Position as defined in Section 4.2(c), based on data collected in any calendar month within the first three full calendar months after the Initial Period. If such re-evaluation concludes that MercadoLibre no longer holds the Leading Market Position, eBay will have the right to terminate its obligations under this Section 4.

(c) For the purposes of this Section 4.2, “Leading Market Position” means that MercadoLibre has both (1) higher GMS and (2) higher Revenue than any competitor. “GMS” (or “gross merchandise sales”) is calculated by aggregating the value of all transactions valued at US$10,000 or less on the MercadoLibre Sites targeted at the applicable country for which GMS is being calculated; for the avoidance of doubt, any and all transactions of over US$10,000 are excluded from GMS. “Revenue” means net revenue from MercadoLibre’s Internet Trading Service, calculated consistent with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP).

4.3 Records and Audits. During the Initial Period and any extension of same as provided in Section 4.2, MercadoLibre will maintain complete and accurate books of account and records relating to GMS and revenue, and eBay will have the right (no more than quarterly), upon prior written notice, to examine, audit, and take extracts from the MercadoLibre’s books and records (which shall be treated as MercadoLibre’s Confidential Information as provided in Section 3 (Confidentiality)).

5. W ARRANTY D ISCLAIMER . EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT, ANY INFORMATION OR MARKS PROVIDED BY EITHER PARTY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS,” “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT, EACH PARTY SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING ANY INFORMATION, MARKS, OR OTHER MATERIALS PROVIDED HEREUNDER, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, OR QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND ANY OTHER IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING OR PERFORMANCE. EACH PARTY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT IT HAS NOT ENTERED INTO THIS AGREEMENT IN RELIANCE ON ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION EXCEPT THOSE EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT.

6. L IMITATION OF L IABILITY . EXCEPT FOR A BREACH OF SECTION 2 (LICENSES) OR SECTION 3 (CONFIDENTIALITY) OR FOR AN INTENTIONAL OR GROSS NEGLIGENCE TORT, NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE TO THE OTHER FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES FOR ANY CAUSE OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR TORT, OR WHETHER CAUSED BY THE FAULT OR NEGLIGENCE OF THAT PARTY, ITS EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OR

 

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SUBCONTRACTORS. CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, AND INDIRECT DAMAGES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, AND LOSS OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, WHETHER OR NOT THE OTHER PARTY WAS AWARE OF OR SHOULD HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE DAMAGES.

7. T ERM AND T ERMINATION . The Term of this Agreement will commence on the Effective Date and continue for as long as the obligations in Section 4 (Territory) are in effect. Either party may terminate the Agreement immediately upon written notice if the other party breaches a material term of the Agreement and fails to cure that breach within thirty (30) days after receiving written notice thereof. Sections 2.4 (Intellectual Property Rights), 3 (Confidentiality), 5 (Warranty Disclaimer), 6 (Limitation of Liability), 7 (Term and Termination), and 8 (General) will survive any termination or expiration of this Agreement. Except as provided in this Section 7, upon termination or expiration of the Agreement; all licenses terminate; each party will return to the other party any Confidential Information, Marks, and other materials provided to such party under the Agreement; and the employees or contractors of each party who have had access to the Confidential Information of the other party (including ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques contained therein) may continue to use any information retained in their memories.

8. G ENERAL .

8.1 Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed in all respects by New York law, excluding any conflict of laws principles that would require the application of the laws of another jurisdiction. The parties consent to the jurisdiction of and venue in the federal courts sitting in California, unless no federal jurisdiction exists, in which case the parties consent to jurisdiction and venue in the state courts in Santa Clara County, California. The parties hereby waive all defenses of lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non-conveniens. In any action or suit to enforce any right or remedy under the Agreement, or to interpret any provision of thereof, the prevailing party will be entitled to recover its costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees.

8.2 Assignment. Neither party may assign this Agreement in whole or in part without the prior written consent of the other party. Any purported assignment in violation of the foregoing will be null and void.

8.3 Severability; Headings. If any provision herein is held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be deemed to be restated, in accordance with applicable law, to reflect as nearly as possible the original intentions of the parties, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force without being impaired or invalidated in any way. Headings are for reference purposes only and in no way define, limit, construe or describe the scope or extent of such section.

8.4 Force Majeure. Except as otherwise provided, if performance hereunder (other than payment of monies due) is prevented, restricted or interfered with by any act or condition whatsoever beyond the reasonable control of a party, the party so affected, upon giving prompt notice to the other party, shall be excused from such performance to the extent of such prevention, restriction or interference.

 

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8.5 Independent Contractors. The parties are independent contractors and no agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchiser franchisee relationship is intended or created by this Agreement.

8.6 No Third Party Beneficiaries. The parties do not intend to create any rights or confer any benefits on any third parties, and nothing herein shall be so construed.

8.7 Equitable Relief. The parties acknowledge that a breach or a threatened breach of Section 2 (Licenses) or Section 3 (Confidentiality) may entitle the nonbreaching party to seek injunctive or other equitable relief. eBay acknowledges that its obligations regarding territorial exclusivity in Section 4.1 (as may be extended in accordance with Section 4.2) convey a unique and extraordinary benefit to MercadoLibre, that a breach or threatened breach by eBay of such obligations would not reasonably or adequately be compensated by damages in an action at law, and that a breach or threatened breach of any of the provisions of Section 4.1 by eBay would cause MercadoLibre irreparable injury and damage. By reason thereof, eBay agrees that MercadoLibre shall be entitled, in addition to any other remedies it may have under this Agreement, to preliminary and permanent injunctive relief and/or to specific performance of the terms and provisions of Section 4.1 or any other available equitable relief to prevent or curtail any breach or threatened breach of Section 4.1 of this Agreement. No specification in this Agreement of a specific legal or equitable remedy shall be construed as a waiver or prohibition against the pursuit of any other legal or equitable remedies in the event of such a breach.

8.8 Notice. Any notices intended to have a legal effect hereunder shall be given to the appropriate party at the address specified above or at such other address as the party shall specify in writing. Notice shall be deemed given: upon personal delivery; if sent by fax, upon confirmation of receipt; or if sent by a reputable overnight courier with tracking capabilities one (1) day after the date of mailing.

8.9 Entire Agreement; Amendment; Waiver. This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding and agreement of the parties and supersedes any and all oral or written agreements or understandings between the parties as to the subject matter of this Agreement. No changes or modifications to this Agreement will be effective unless and until made by a writing signed by both parties. The waiver of a breach of any provision of this Agreement will not operate or be interpreted as a waiver of any other or subsequent breach.

8.10 Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original and all of which shall be taken together and deemed to be one instrument.

 

eBay Inc.     MercadoLibre, Inc.
By:   /s/ Matthew Bannick     By:   /s/ Marcos Galperin
Name:   Matthew J. Bannick     Name:   Marcos Galperin
Title:   SVP & GM International     Title:   CEO

 

7

Exhibit 10.10

MERCADOLIBRE, INC.

2001 MANAGEMENT INCENTIVE BONUS PLAN

The purpose of the MercadoLibre, Inc. 2001 Management Incentive Bonus Plan (the “ Plan ”) is to provide incentives to, and align the interests of, senior management-level employees of MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “ Company ”), with the Company’s stockholders (collectively, the “ Stockholders ”) in order to increase the enterprise value of the Company. Certain capitalized terms used herein are defined in Section 9 .

Section 1. Administration of the Plan; Allocation of Participation Amounts . Subject to Section 12 , the Plan shall be administered by the Board of Directors of the Company (the “ Board ”) or the Compensation Committee thereof; provided , however , that, subject to the consent of the Board or the Compensation Committee, as the case may be (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld), the Chief Executive Officer (the “ CEO ”) of the Company shall make the initial determination as to the Executives who will be entitled to Participation Amounts hereunder and the Participation Amounts to be granted to each such Executive. Except as otherwise expressly provided in the Plan (including under Section 12 ), the Board or the Compensation Committee, as the case may be, shall have all powers with respect to administration of the Plan. Each Executive’s Participation Amount shall be as set forth in a Participation Amount Certificate for such Executive substantially in the form attached as Exhibit A hereto (the “ Participation Amount Certificate ”).

Section 2. Participation Amounts Subject to the Plan . Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Plan or any other agreement entered into in connection with or pursuant to the Plan, the Sale Bonus Participation Amounts available for allocation pursuant to Section 1 shall be 5.5% in the aggregate, and the Stay Bonus Participation Amounts available for allocation pursuant to Section 1 shall be 7.1% in the aggregate. Subject to the consent of the Board or the Compensation Committee, as the case may be (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld), any portion of the Participation Amounts that remains unallocated from time to time may be allocated by the CEO at any time prior to the closing of the Sale of the Company.

Section 3. Incentive Bonus Plan . If a Sale of the Company is consummated at any time after the Effective Date (as defined in Section 11 ), then each of the Executives, in each case based on each such Executive’s respective Participation Amounts shall, subject to the other terms and conditions of the Plan and any other agreement entered into in connection with or pursuant to the Plan, be entitled to receive (i) a Sale Bonus determined in the manner and payable as set forth in Section 4 and/or (ii) a Stay Bonus determined in the manner and payable as set forth in Section 4 .


Section 4. Bonus Payments .

(a) If the Designated Value upon the consummation of a Sale of the Company is less than $20,000,000, then (i) no Executive shall be entitled to receive a Sale Bonus (as defined below) and (ii) each Executive shall be entitled to receive a Stay Bonus (as defined below) equal to the product of the Net Payment Amount and such Executive’s Stay Bonus Participation Amount (the “ Minimum Stay Bonus ”).

(b) If the Designated Value upon the consummation of a Sale of the Company is equal to or greater than $20,000,000, then each Executive shall be entitled to receive:

(i) a sale bonus equal to the product of the Net Payment Amount and such Executive’s Sale Bonus Participation Amount (the “ Sale Bonus ”), plus

(ii) a stay bonus equal to the product of the Net Payment Amount and such Executive’s Stay Bonus Participation Amount (the “ Stay Bonus ”).

(c) Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, if any portion of the Net Payment Amount is escrowed, heldback or otherwise retained by the purchasers in connection with the Sale of the Company (the “ Holdback Amount ”), as the case may be, whether in connection with a purchase price adjustment or otherwise, then a proportionate amount of the Bonus based on such Holdback Amount shall be placed in escrow with an escrow agent, selected by the Board in good faith, and released at such time or times, if any, as the Holdback Amount is released to the Company and/or the Stockholders, as the case may be, and shall remain subject to such purchase price or other adjustment.

Section 5. Form and Delivery of Bonus Payments . In the event that the Net Payment Amount or Call/Put Sale Amount consists (in whole or in part) of consideration other than cash, the form of the consideration to be paid as the Bonus shall consist of, in the discretion of the Board, either (i) cash (as valued by the Board and a majority in interest (based on Participation Amounts) of the Executives in good faith) or (ii) the same form of consideration in the same relative proportion as that of the Net Payment Amount.

The portion of any Sale Bonus payable pursuant to paragraphs (a)  or (b)  of Section 4 shall be paid to the Executives upon the consummation of the Sale of the Company. The portion of any Stay Bonus payable pursuant to paragraphs (a)  or (b)  of Section 4 shall be paid to the Executives on the first business day after the first anniversary of the closing date of the Sale of the Company. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Plan or in any agreement entered into in connection with or pursuant to the Plan, in no event shall the Company make any Bonus payment (or any portion thereof) to any Executive pursuant to Section 4 prior to the actual receipt by the Stockholders of the applicable Net Payment Amount.

Section 6. Withholding Taxes . The Company shall withhold from any amount payable hereunder to an Executive such amount as shall be sufficient to satisfy all current or estimated future Federal, state and local withholding tax and employment tax requirements relating to such amount payable to such Executive.

Section 7. Executive’s Employment . Nothing in the Plan or any agreement entered into in connection with or pursuant to the Plan shall confer upon an Executive any right to continue in

 

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the employ of the Company or any of its affiliates or interfere in any way with the right of the Company or its affiliates or Stockholders, as the case may be, to terminate the Executive’s employment or to increase or decrease the Executive’s compensation at any time.

Section 8. Termination of Participation Amounts . If an Executive is not employed by the Company or any of its subsidiaries as of the closing of the Sale of the Company for any reason other than a termination without Cause or resignation for Good Reason, then such Executive shall not be entitled to any Bonus. If an Executive is not employed by the Company or any of its subsidiaries as of the first anniversary of the closing of the Sale of the Company for any reason other than a termination without Cause or resignation for Good Reason, then such Executive shall not be entitled to any Stay Bonus. For purposes of clarification, an Executive shall remain entitled to a particular Bonus so long as such Executive is employed by the Company or its subsidiaries as of the applicable date provided for in this Section 8 , even if such Executive is terminated for any reason subsequent to that date.

Section 9. Certain Definitions . As used herein, the following terms shall have the following respective meanings:

(a) “ Bonus(es) ” means a Sale Bonus and/or a Stay Bonus, as the case may be.

(b) “ Cause ” shall have the meaning set forth in the Executive’s employment agreement with the Company or any of its subsidiaries or, if no such agreement is then in effect, shall mean (A) the Executive’s material disregard of his responsibilities, authorities, powers, functions or duties or failure to act, (B) repeated or material negligence or misconduct by the Executive in the performance of his duties, (C) appropriation (or attempted appropriation) of a business opportunity of the Company or any of its affiliates, including attempting to secure or securing any personal profit in connection with any transaction entered into on behalf of the Company or any of its affiliates, (D) the commission by the Executive of any act of fraud, theft or financial dishonesty with respect to the Company or any of its affiliates, or any felony or criminal act involving moral turpitude or dishonesty on the part of the Executive, (E) the Executive’s habitual drunkenness or excessive absenteeism not related to sickness, and/or (F) the material breach by the Executive of any provision of his employment agreement that is not cured by the Executive within thirty (30) days after written notice of breach has been delivered to the Executive by the Company, unless such breach is incapable of cure (in which case the Executive shall not be entitled to an opportunity to cure), in each case of clauses (A)  through (F)  above, as determined by the Board in good faith.

(c) “ Designated Shares ” means those issued and outstanding shares of capital stock set forth on Schedule I , as such Schedule may hereafter be modified by the Board or the Committee, as the case may be, to take account of changes to such shares of capital stock (including with regard to the number and/or classification thereof) resulting from conversions or stock splits so as to maintain the same relative economic benefits to which the Executives and the Stockholders would be entitled absent such changes.

(d) “ Designated Value ” means in connection with the Sale of the Company, the aggregate Net Payment Amount attributable to the Designated Shares at the time of consummation of the Sale of the Company (calculated as if all of the Designated Shares were acquired in the Sale of the Company, and valuing the shares that were not acquired in the Sale of the Company at the average sale price of the shares that were acquired in the Sale of the Company).

 

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(e) “ Executive ” means each person set forth on Schedule II hereto as in effect from time to time.

(f) “ Good Reason ” means (i) a material reduction in the nature and scope of the Executive’s responsibilities and functions from the responsibilities and functions normally exercised by a person in the position of the Executive and a material reduction in compensation to the subject Executive, or (ii) a material breach by the Company or, if applicable, its subsidiary of any material provision of the Executive’s employment agreement (if any), in each case of clauses (i) and (ii), if the Company has failed to cure within 30 days after the written notice has been delivered by the Executive to the Company or, if applicable, its subsidiary.

(g) “ Net Payment Amount ” means, in connection with the Sale of the Company, the net amount of (x) the aggregate of (as such amount may be adjusted for any post-closing adjustment for working capital or otherwise) the amount paid or payable by the purchaser(s) (or, in the case of an asset sale, any distribution or dividend, by the Company) with respect to the Designated Shares (excluding Designated Shares not sold in the Sale of the Company) as consideration (including non-cash consideration) for the Sale of the Company (subject to the application of the terms of the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation governing the priority of payments in the event of a Sale of the Company) minus (y) all of the fees and expenses (including, without limitation, fees and expenses of financing sources, brokers, investment bankers, attorneys, accountants, environmental consultants, etc.) incurred by the Stockholders in connection with the sale of the Designated Shares and which are not reimbursed by the Company; provided , however , that in no event shall the amount under clause (x)  above exceed $78,335,000. For purposes of clarification, once the Net Payment Amount has been received with respect to any Designated Shares, the Executives shall no longer be entitled to receive any Bonuses based on the Net Payment Amount attributable to such Designated Shares in any future sale of such Designated Shares.

(h) “ Participation Amounts ” means the Sale Bonus Participation Amount and/or the Stay Bonus Participation Amount, as the case may be.

(i) “ Proportionate Percentage ” means a fraction, expressed as a percentage, the numerator of which is the number of Designated Shares sold in the Sale of the Company and the denominator of which is the total number of Designated Shares.

(j) “ Sale Bonus Participation Amount ” with respect to each Executive, means that participation (expressed as a percentage) of the Net Payment Amount set forth on such Executive’s Participation Amount Certificate.

(k) “ Sale of the Company ” means (i) a transaction pursuant to which, immediately after consummation of such transaction, any person or group of persons other than those Stockholders set forth on Schedule III have the right to elect a majority of the members of the Board, (ii) the sale of Designated Shares to any Stockholder listed on Schedule III that constitutes a Sale of the Corporation (as defined in the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation) or (iii) a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company to one or more persons. If the Sale of the Company involves a sale of less than all of the Designated Shares and in

 

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connection with such Sale of the Company a contractual call or put option is exercised by the purchaser or the Stockholders (as applicable), then for purposes of this Plan, the Sale of the Company shall be deemed to include any consummation of such call option or put option, and shall be deemed to occur upon (i) the initial sale of the Designated Shares with respect to the Designated Shares attributable to such initial sale and (ii) upon the exercise of the subject put or call option with respect to the Designated Shares attributable to the exercise of such put or call option.

(l) “ Stay Bonus Participation Amount ” with respect to each Executive, means that participation (expressed as a percentage) of the Net Payment Amount set forth on such Executive’s Participation Amount Certificate.

Section 10. Non-Assignment by Executive . No rights granted to the Executives pursuant to the Plan may be assigned or otherwise transferred by the Executives except by will or laws of descent and distribution.

Section 11. Effectiveness; Code Section 280G . The Plan shall become effective on the date (the “ Effective Date ”) of its adoption by the Board. The Plan shall terminate (the “ Termination Date ”) in its entirety upon the mutual written agreement of the Board and all of the Executives and shall terminate as to a particular Executive upon the earlier of its termination pursuant to Section 7 or the mutual written agreement of the Board and such Executive. Promptly following its adoption by the Board, the Board shall submit the Plan to the Stockholders for their approval. Notwithstanding anything in the Plan or any other agreement entered into in connection with or pursuant to the Plan, if the provisions of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 (“ DEFRA ”) or Section 280G of the Code relating to “excess parachute payments” (as defined by the Code) shall be applicable to any Bonus payment, then the total amount of such payment shall be reduced by the least amount necessary such that the provisions of DEFRA and Section 280G of the Code relating to “excess parachute payments” shall no longer be applicable; provided , however , that the Company shall use its commercially reasonable efforts to obtain the requisite approvals so that the limiting provisions of DEFRA and Section 280G of the Code would not be applicable to such payment.

Section 12. Amendment . The Board may at any time prior to the Termination Date modify and amend the Plan in any respect, subject to any approval right of the Stockholders pursuant to applicable law, the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation or By-laws as in effect from time to time, or any other agreements entered into between the Company and the Stockholders. Any such amendment to the Plan that would have an adverse affect on any Executive individually (including any reduction in such Executive’s Participation Amount) shall require the prior written consent of such Executive. The Board or the Compensation Committee (as applicable) may not terminate the Plan without the prior consent of all of the Executives.

Section 13. Governing Law . The validity and construction of the Plan and the agreements entered into in connection with or pursuant to the Plan shall be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware.

As adopted by the Board of Directors

of MercadoLibre, Inc.

on September 24, 2001

 

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SCHEDULE I

Designated Shares

SCHEDULE I: Designated Shares

(000’s)

 

     Preferred
A
Shares
   Preferred
B-1
Shares
   Preferred
B-2
Shares
   Preferred
C
Shares
   Preferred
D-1
Shares
   Preferred
D-2
Shares
   Preferred
E-1
Shares
   Preferred
E-2
Shares

Nedasur S.A.

            2.456,973            

JPMP Group

      1.853,275    4.146,725       441,687    2.506,681      

J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA, L.P.)

      92,479    4.146,725       22,040    2.506,681      

Flatiron Fund 1998/1999 Part 2

      760,796                  

Flatiron Associates, LLC

      46,296          4,839         

Flatiron Associates II, LLC

               19,332         

Flatiron Fund 1998/1999

      453,704                  

Flatiron Fund 2000

               318,640         

Luna Ventures, LLC

      150,000          38,418         

Ventech, LLC

      150,000          38,418         

GGG

      200,000                  

Hicks Muse Investor Group

   1.600,000          982,789            

7-X International

   65,000                     

G.B.S.L.

   35,000                     

Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst

   1.500,000          982,789            

Second Round Investors

            5.073,649            

Goldman Sachs

            2.456,973            

GS Capital Partners III L.P.

            1.859,826            

GS Capital Partners III Offshore, L.P.

            511,288            

Goldman Sachs & Co., Venwaltungs GmbH

            85,859            

GE Capital Equity Investments, Inc.

            1.228,487            

Capital Riesgo Internet SCR S.A.

            982,789            

Friends & Family Group

            405,400            

E-Bay

                     6.983,878    1.142,184
                                       

Total

   1.600,000    1.853,275    4.146,725    8.513,411    441,687    2.506,681    6.983,878    1.142,184
                                       


SCHEDULE II

 

Executives

   Sale Bonus
Participation
Amounts
    Stay Bonus
Participation
Amounts
 

Marcos Galperin

   50 %   50 %

Hernan Kazah

   20 %   20 %

Nicolas Szekasy

   13 %   13 %


SCHEDULE III

J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA), L.P.

The Flatiron Fund 1998/99 LLC

Flatiron Associates LLC

Luna Ventures LLC

Ventech LLC

GGG Partners

Seven-X International Limited

HMTF-LA (MercadoLibre) Investments, LLC

GS Capital Partners III, L.P.

GS Capital Partners III Offshore, L.P.

Goldman Sachs & Co. Verwaltungs GmbH

GE Capital Equity Investments, Inc.

Capital Riesgo Internet SCR S.A.

Nedasur, S.A.

Anthony Melchiorre

Dwight Siprelle

Mike Rankowitz

Mitch Petrick

Jason Maratos

Mete Tuncel

Andrew Brenner


EXHIBIT A

Form of Participation Amount Certificate

Reference is made to the MercadoLibre 2001 Management Incentive Bonus Plan (the “ Plan ”). Pursuant to Section 1 of the Plan, the undersigned hereby allocates to [EXECUTIVE] the following Participation Amounts:

 

Sale Bonus
Participation

Amount

    Stay Bonus
Participation
Amount
 
____ %   ____ %

This Certificate shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan in all respects and all capitalized terms used in this Certificate but not defined herein shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the Plan. The allocation of the Participation Amounts as set forth above shall become effective on the date such allocation has been approved by the Board or the Compensation Committee, as the case may be.

 

MERCADOLIBRE, INC.
     
Name:
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Dated:

Exhibit 10.11

MERCADOLIBRE, INC.

Amended and Restated

1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan

(effective as of May 5, 2000)

 

1. PURPOSE OF THE PLAN

The purpose of the MercadoLibre, Inc. 1999 Stock Option and Restricted Stock Plan (the “ Plan ”) is (i) to further the growth and success of MercadoLibre, Inc. (together with its successors and assigns, the “ Corporation ”) and its Subsidiaries (as defined below) by enabling directors, officers, managers, employees or agents of, and advisors, independent consultants or contractors to, the Corporation or its Subsidiaries to acquire shares of Class A Common Stock, U.S. $0.01 par value per share (the “ Class A Common Stock ”), of the Corporation, thereby increasing their personal growth and success, and (ii) to provide a means of rewarding outstanding performance by such persons to the Corporation and its Subsidiaries. Awards to be granted under this Plan shall include (a) stock options (the “ Options ”), which may be, and shall be designated as, either “incentive stock options” (“ ISOs ”) under the provisions of Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “ Code ”) or non-qualified stock options (“ NQOs ”), and (b) restricted stock (the “Restricted Stock”) (collectively referred to herein as the “Awards”). For purposes of this Plan, the term “ Subsidiary ” shall mean “Subsidiary Corporation” as defined in Section 424(f) of the Code.

 

2. ADMINISTRATION OF THE PLAN

(a) Committee

The Plan shall be administered by the Board of Directors (the “ Board ”) or a committee or committees (which term includes subcommittees) appointed by, and consisting of two or more members of, the Board (the “ Committee ”). If and so long as the Class A Common Stock is registered under Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the Exchange Act, the Board shall consider in selecting the Plan Administrator and the membership of any committee acting as Plan Administrator, with respect to any persons subject or likely to become subject to Section 16 of the Exchange Act, the provisions regarding (a) “outside directors” as contemplated by Section 162(m) of the Code and (b) “nonemployee directors” as contemplated by Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act. The Board may delegate the responsibility for administering the Plan with respect to designated classes of eligible persons to different committees consisting of two or more members of the Board, subject to such limitations as the Board deems appropriate. Committee members shall serve for such term as the Board may determine, subject to removal by the Board at any time.


(b) Procedures

If the Plan is administered by the Committee, the Board shall from time to time select a Chairman from among the members of the Committee. The Committee shall adopt such rules and regulations as it shall deem appropriate concerning the holding of meetings and the administration of the Plan. A majority of the entire Committee shall constitute a quorum and the actions of a majority of the members of the Committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present, or actions approved in writing by all of the members of the Committee, shall be the actions of the Committee.

(c) Interpretation

Except as otherwise expressly provided in the Plan, the Committee shall have all powers with respect to the administration of the Plan, including, without limitation, full power and authority to interpret the provisions of the Plan and any Award Agreement (as defined in Section 5(b) ), and to resolve all questions arising under the Plan. All decisions of the Board or the Committee, as the case may be, shall be conclusive and binding on all participants in the Plan.

 

3. SHARES SUBJECT TO THE PLAN

(a) Maximum Number of Shares

Subject to the provisions of Section 9 (relating to adjustments upon changes in capital structure and other corporate transactions), the maximum number of Class A Common Stock reserved and available for delivery in connection with Awards under the Plan shall be the sum of (i) 4,732,400, plus (ii) the number of shares of Class A Common Stock with respect to Awards previously granted under the Plan that terminate without being exercised, expire, are forfeited or canceled. Subject to the provisions of Section 9 , in no event shall the aggregate number of shares of Class A Common Stock which may be issued pursuant to ISOs exceed 4,732,400 shares.

(b) Character of Shares

The shares of Class A Common Stock issuable pursuant to any Award granted under the Plan shall be (i) authorized but unissued shares, (ii) shares of Class A Common Stock held in the Corporation’s treasury, or (iii) a combination of the foregoing.

(c) Reservation of Shares

The number of shares of Class A Common Stock reserved for issuance under the Plan shall at no time be less than the sum of (i) the maximum number of shares which may be purchased at any time pursuant to outstanding Options, and (ii) the maximum number of shares subject to outstanding Restricted Stock Awards.


4. ELIGIBILITY

Awards may be granted under the Plan only to (i) persons who are employees or agents of, or independent consultants, contractors and/or advisors to, the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries and (ii) persons who are directors, officers or managers of the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries. Only employees of the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries shall be eligible for a grant of ISOs. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Awards may be conditionally granted to persons who are prospective employees, directors, officers or managers or agents of, or independent consultants, advisors or contractors to, the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries, to take effect when such position is finalized.

 

5. GRANT OF AWARDS

(a) General

Awards may be granted under the Plan at any time and from time to time on or prior to the Expiration Date (as defined in Section 12 ). Subject to the provisions of the Plan, the Committee shall, in its discretion, determine:

(i) the persons (from among the class of persons eligible to receive Awards under the Plan) to whom Awards shall be granted (the “ Participants ”);

(ii) the time or times at which Awards shall be granted;

(iii) the number of shares of Class A Common Stock subject to each Awards; and

(iv) the time or times when each Award shall vest and, with respect to Options, the duration of the exercise period.

(b) Award Agreements

Each Award granted under the Plan shall be evidenced by a written agreement substantially in the forms of Exhibit A and Exhibit B attached hereto (an “ Award Agreement ”), containing such terms and conditions and in such form, not inconsistent with the Plan, as the Committee shall, in its discretion, provide. Each Award Agreement shall be executed by the Corporation and the Participant.

(c) No Evidence of Employment or Service

Nothing contained in the Plan or in any Award Agreement shall confer upon any Participant any right with respect to the continuation of his or her employment by or service with the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries or interfere in any way with the right of the Corporation or any such Subsidiary at any time to terminate such employment or service or to increase or decrease the compensation of the Participant from the rate in existence at the time of the grant of an Award.


(d) Date of Grant

The date of grant of an Award under the Plan shall be the date as of which the Corporation and Participant execute and deliver an Award Agreement; provided , however , that the grant shall in no event be earlier than the date as of which the Participant becomes an employee, officer, director or manager of, or independent consultant, advisor or contractor to, the Corporation or one of its Subsidiaries.

 

6. SPECIFIC TERMS OF OPTION AWARDS

(a) OPTION PRICE

(i) General

The exercise price (the “ Option Price ”) for each share of Class A Common Stock subject to an Option shall be determined by the Committee and set forth in the Award Agreement; provided however , that, in the case of an ISO, such Option Price shall in no event be less than 100% (or 110% if Section 6(a)(ii) hereof applies) of the fair value of the shares of Class A Common Stock on the date of grant (the “ Fair Market Value ”) as reasonably determined in good faith by the Committee after taking into consideration all factors which it deems appropriate, including, without limitation, recent sale and offer prices of the shares of Class A Common Stock in private transactions negotiated at arm’s length on or prior to the date of grant of such Option.

(ii) Incentive Stock Options

No ISO may be granted under the Plan to an employee who owns, directly or indirectly (within the meaning of Sections 422(b)(6) and 424(d) of the Code), capital stock possessing more than 10% of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock of the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries, unless (i) the Option Price of the shares of Class A Common Stock subject to such ISO is fixed at not less than 110% of the Fair Market Value on the date of grant of such ISO and (ii) such ISO by its terms is not exercisable after the expiration of five years from the date it is granted.

(b) EXERCISABILITY OF OPTIONS

(i) Committee Determination

Each Option granted under the Plan shall be exercisable at such time or times, or upon the occurrence of such event or events (the “ Vesting Date ”), and for such number of shares of Class A Common Stock subject to the Option, as shall be determined by the Committee and set forth in the Award Agreement evidencing such Option. If an Option is not at the time of grant immediately exercisable, the Committee may (i) in the Award Agreement evidencing such Option, provide for the acceleration of the Vesting Dates of the subject Option upon the occurrence of specified events and/or (ii) at any time prior to the complete termination of an Option, accelerate the Vesting Dates of such Option. In addition, the Committee shall have the


discretion to grant Options which are exercisable for unvested shares of Class A Common Stock; provided, that should the Participant cease to be employed with or perform services to the Corporation (or a Subsidiary) while holding such unvested shares, the Corporation shall have the right to repurchase, at the exercise price paid per share, any or all of those unvested shares. The terms upon which such repurchase right shall be exercisable (including the period and procedure for exercise and the appropriate vesting schedule for the purchased shares) shall be established by the Committee and set forth in the Award Agreement evidencing such repurchase right.

(ii) Termination of Options

Unless otherwise determined by the Committee in its discretion, the unexercised portion of any Option granted under the Plan shall automatically terminate and shall become null and void and be of no further force or effect upon the first to occur of the following (the “ Termination Date ”):

(A) the tenth anniversary on which such Option is granted (or fifth anniversary if Section 6(a)(ii) hereof applies);

(B) the expiration of 30 days from the date that the Participant ceases to be an officer, manager, director, or employee of the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries as a result of a termination without Cause (as hereinafter defined);

(C) the expiration of 10 days from the date that the Participant ceases to be an officer, manager, director, or employee of the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries, if such termination is as a result of a termination for Cause or resignation. As used herein, “ Cause ” shall have the meaning ascribed to it in the service agreement between the Corporation and the applicable Participant or, if not defined therein or no such agreement exists, then it shall mean (1) the conviction of a crime involving fraud, theft, dishonesty or moral turpitude by the Participant; (2) the Participant’s willful and continuing disregard of lawful instructions of the Board of the Corporation or superiors (if any) or the Participant’s willful misconduct is carrying out his position and duties; (3) the continued use of alcohol or drugs by the Participant, to an extent that in the good faith determination of the Board of the Corporation, such use interferes in any manner with the performance of the Participant’s duties and responsibilities; or (4) the conviction of the Participant for violating any law constituting a felony (including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977) or the foreign equivalent thereof;

(D) the expiration of 10 days from the date that the Participant ceases to be an independent consultant, contractor or advisor to or agent of the Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries for any reason;

(E) the expiration of three (3) months from the date of such Participant’s death or permanent disability (as such term is defined in Section 22(c)(3) of the Code) or, with respect to any Participant who is a party to an employment agreement, such Participant’s disability (as such term is defined in the relevant employment agreement);


(F) the expiration of such period of time or the occurrence of such event as the Committee in its discretion may provide in the Award Agreement;

(G) on the effective date of a Material Transaction (as defined in Section 8(b)(i) ) to which Section 8(b)(ii) (relating to assumptions and substitutions of Options) does not apply; and

(H) except to the extent permitted by Section 8(b)(ii) , the date on which an Option or any part thereof or right or privilege relating thereto is transferred (otherwise than by will or the laws of descent and distribution), assigned, pledged, hypothecated, attached or otherwise disposed of by the Participant.

Anything contained in the Plan to the contrary notwithstanding, (i) an ISO granted under the Plan shall not be considered an ISO to the extent that the aggregate Fair Market Value, determined on the date of grant of such ISO, of all stock with respect to which ISOs are exercisable for the first time by such Participant during any calendar year (under all plans of the Corporation and its Subsidiaries) exceeds $100,000 and (ii) unless otherwise provided in an Option Agreement, no Option granted under the Plan shall be affected by any change of duties or position of the Participant (including a transfer to or from the Corporation or one of its Subsidiaries), so long as such Participant continues to be an employee of the Corporation or one of its Subsidiaries.

(c) PROCEDURE FOR EXERCISE

(i) Payment

At the time an Option is granted pursuant to the Plan, the Committee shall, in its discretion, specify one or more of the following forms of payment which may be used by the Participant upon exercise of his or her Option:

(A) cash or personal or certified check payable to the Corporation in an amount equal to the aggregate Option Price of the shares of Class A Common Stock with respect to which the Option is being exercised;

(B) stock certificates (in negotiable form) representing the shares of Class A Common Stock that have been owned by the Participant for at least six months and that have a fair market value (as determined by the Board) on the date of exercise equal to the aggregate Option Price of the shares of Class A Common Stock with respect to which the Option is being exercised;

(C) any other consideration or in any other manner as the Committee may determine in its sole discretion; or

(D) a combination of the methods set forth in clauses (A), (B)  and (C)  of this subsection 6(c)(i).


(ii) Notice

A Participant (or other person, as provided in Section 9(b) ) may exercise an Option granted under the Plan in whole or in part (but for the purchase of whole Class A Common Shares only), as provided in the Award Agreement evidencing his Option, by delivering a written notice (the “Notice”) to the Secretary of the Corporation. The Notice shall state, or be accompanied by a writing stating, as the case may be:

(A) that the Participant elects to exercise the Option;

(B) the number of shares of Class A Common Stock with respect to which the Option is being exercised (the “ Optioned Shares ”) ( provided that the number of such shares shall be at least 100, unless the Option is exerciseable for less than 100 shares in which case the Option shall be exercised with respect to all of such shares);

(C) the method of payment for the Optioned Shares;

(D) the date upon which the Participant desires to consummate the purchase (which date must be prior to the termination of such Option);

(E) payment for the Optioned Shares as provided in Section 6(c)(i) ; and

(F) such further provisions consistent with the Plan as the Committee may from time to time require.

The exercise date of an Option shall be the date on which the Corporation receives the Notice from the Participant.

(iii) Issuance of Certificates

The Corporation shall issue a certificate in the name of the Participant (or such other person exercising the Option in accordance with the provisions of Section 9(b) ) for the Optioned Shares as soon as practicable after receipt of the Notice and payment of the aggregate Option Price for such shares of Class A Common Stock. Neither the Participant nor any person exercising an Option in accordance with the provisions of Section 9(b) shall have any privileges as a holder of shares of Class A Common Stock with respect to any shares of Class A Common Stock subject to an Option granted under the Plan until the date of payment for such shares of Class A Common Stock pursuant to the Option and the issuance of the certificate to evidence such shares of Class A Common Stock.

 

7. SPECIFIC TERMS OF RESTRICTED STOCK AWARDS

(a) Grant and Restrictions

Restricted Stock shall be subject to such restrictions on transferability, risk of forfeiture and other restrictions, if any, as the Committee may impose, which restrictions may lapse separately or in combination at such times, under such circumstances (including based on


achievement of performance goals and/or future service requirements), in such installments or otherwise, as the Committee may determine at the date of grant or thereafter. Except to the extent restricted under the terms of the Plan and any Award Agreement relating to the Restricted Stock, an Participant granted Restricted Stock shall have all of the rights of a stockholder, including the right to vote the Restricted Stock and the right to receive dividends thereon (subject to any mandatory reinvestment or other requirement imposed by the Committee). During the restricted period applicable to the Restricted Stock, the Restricted Stock may not be sold, transferred, pledged, hypothecated, margined or otherwise encumbered by the Participant.

(b) Forfeiture.

Except as otherwise determined by the Committee at the time of the Award, upon termination of an Participant’s employment during the applicable restriction period, the Participant’s Restricted Stock that is at that time subject to restrictions shall be forfeited and reacquired by the Company; provided that the Committee may provide, by rule or regulation or in any Award Agreement, or may determine in any individual case, that restrictions or forfeiture conditions relating to Restricted Stock shall be waived in whole or in part in the event of terminations resulting from specified causes, and the Committee may in other cases waive in whole or in part the forfeiture of Restricted Stock.

(c) Certificates for Stock.

Restricted Stock granted under the Plan may be evidenced in such manner as the Committee shall determine. If certificates representing Restricted Stock are registered in the name of the Participant, the Committee may require that such certificates bear an appropriate legend referring to the terms, conditions and restrictions applicable to such Restricted Stock, that the Corporation retain physical possession of the certificates, and that the Participant deliver a stock power to the Corporation, endorsed in blank, relating to the Restricted Stock.

(d) Dividends and Splits.

As a condition to the grant of an Award of Restricted Stock, the Committee may require that any cash dividends paid on a share of Restricted Stock be automatically reinvested in additional shares of Restricted Stock or applied to the purchase of additional Awards under the Plan. Unless otherwise determined by the Committee, Class A Common Stock distributed in connection with a stock split or stock dividend, and other property distributed as a dividend, shall be subject to restrictions and a risk of forfeiture to the same extent as the Restricted Stock with respect to which such Class A Common Stock or other property has been distributed

 

8. ADJUSTMENTS

(a) Changes in Capital Structure

Subject to Section 8(b) , if the shares of Class A Common Stock are changed by reason of a split, reverse split or recapitalization, or converted into or exchanged for other securities as a result of a merger, consolidation or reorganization, the Committee shall make such


adjustments in the number and class of shares of Class A Common Stock with respect to which Awards may be granted under the Plan as shall be equitable and appropriate in order to make such Awards, as nearly as may be practicable, equivalent to such Awards immediately prior to such change. A corresponding adjustment increasing or decreasing the number and, if applicable, changing the class, of shares of Class A Common Stock allocated to, and the Option Price of, each Award or portion thereof outstanding at the time of such change shall likewise be made.

(b) Material Transactions

In the event of a dissolution or liquidation of the Corporation, a reorganization, merger or consolidation in which the Corporation is not the surviving corporation, or a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the Corporation to another person or entity (each, a “ Material Transaction ”), unless otherwise provided in the Award Agreement or in the Stockholders’ Agreement (as defined in Section 9(c) ):

(i) each holder of a Option outstanding at such time shall be given (A) written notice of such Material Transaction at least 10 days prior to its proposed effective date (as specified in such notice) and (B) an opportunity, during the period commencing with delivery of such notice and ending 5 days prior to such proposed effective date, to exercise the Option to the full extent to which such Option would have been exercisable by the Participant at the expiration of such 10-day period; provided , however , that upon the occurrence of a Material Transaction, all Options granted under the Plan and not so exercised shall automatically terminate; and

(ii) notwithstanding anything contained in the Plan to the contrary, Section 8(b)(i) shall not be applicable if provision shall be made in connection with such Material Transaction for the assumption of outstanding Options by, or the substitution for such Options of new options for equity securities of the surviving, successor or purchasing corporation, or a parent or subsidiary thereof, with appropriate adjustments as to the number, kind and option prices of shares subject to such Options.

(c) Special Rules

The following rules shall apply in connection with Section 8(a) and (b)  above:

(i) no fractional shares of Class A Common Stock shall be issued as a result of any such adjustment, and any fractional shares of Class A Common Stock resulting from the computations pursuant to Section 8(a) or (b)  shall be eliminated and the Participant shall receive cash consideration for such fractional share of Common Stock at the rate of the fair market value of such share of Common Stock, determined in accordance with clause (iv)  below;

(ii) no adjustment shall be made for cash dividends or the issuance of shares of Class A Common Stock or other securities to holders of rights to subscribe for such additional shares of Class A Common Stock or other securities;


(iii) any adjustments referred to in Section 8(a) or (b)  shall be made by the Board or Committee (as the case may be) in good faith and shall be conclusive and binding on all persons holding Options granted under the Plan; and

(iv) the fair market value of a shares of Class A Common Stock shall be deemed to be the price to be paid in such Material Transaction for a shares of Class A Common Stock.

 

9. RESTRICTIONS ON AWARDS

(a) Compliance With Securities Laws

No Awards shall be granted, and no shares of Class A Common Stock shall be issued and delivered, unless and until the Corporation and/or the Participant shall have complied with all applicable laws, rules and regulations of all public agencies and authorities applicable to the issuance and distribution of such shares of Class A Common Stock and to the listing of such shares of Class A Common Stock on any stock exchange on which any of the shares of the capital stock of the Corporation may be listed. As a condition of participating in the Plan, each Participant agrees to comply with all such laws, rules and regulations and agrees to furnish to the Corporation all information and undertakings as may be required to permit compliance with such laws, rules and regulations. The Committee in its discretion may, as a condition to the grant of an Award and/or the exercise of any Option granted under the Plan, require a Participant (i) to represent in writing that the shares of Class A Common Stock received upon grant and/or exercise of an Award are being acquired for investment and not with a view to distribution and (ii) to make such other representations and warranties as are deemed appropriate by the Corporation. Certificates representing shares of Class A Common Stock acquired upon the grant and/or exercise of Awards that have not been registered under the Securities Act shall, if required by the Committee, bear the legend required by the Stockholders’ Agreement.

(b) Nonassignability of Option Rights

Unless the prior written consent of the Committee is obtained (which consent may be withheld for any reason), no Option granted under the Plan shall be assignable or otherwise transferable by the Participant except by will or by the laws of descent and distribution. An Option may be exercised during the lifetime of the Participant only by the Participant or such Participant’s legal representative in the event that such Participant is legally disabled. If a Participant dies, his or her Option shall thereafter be exercisable, during the period specified in Section 6(b)(ii)(E) by his or her executors or administrators to the full extent to which such Option was exercisable by the Participant at the time of his or her death.

(c) Stockholders’ Agreement.

Each Participant, as a condition to the receipt of the grant of an Award, shall agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of the Stockholders’ Agreement dated as of November 3, 1999, among the Corporation and the stockholders of the Corporation from time to time party thereto (as amended, restated, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time, the


Stockholders’ Agreement ”), and shall execute such joinder or other agreement as is necessary to so bind such Participant. All Awards granted to the Participant and any shares of Class A Common Stock issued pursuant to such Awards shall be subject to the Stockholders’ Agreement.

 

10. EFFECTIVE DATE OF PLAN

This Plan shall become effective on the date that this Plan is approved by the Board (the “ Effective Date ”); provided , however , that no Award shall be exercisable by an Participant unless and until the Plan shall have been approved by the stockholders of the Corporation in accordance with the provisions of the Corporation’s articles of incorporation and by-laws, which approval shall be obtained by a simple majority vote of the stockholders, voting either in person or by proxy, at a duly held stockholders’ meeting, or by written consent, within 12 months after the adoption of the Plan by the Board.

 

11. EXPIRATION AND TERMINATION OF THE PLAN

No Awards may be granted after the Expiration Date. The Plan shall expire on the first to occur of (i) the tenth anniversary of the Effective Date and (ii) the date as of which the Board, in its sole discretion, determines that the Plan shall terminate (the “ Expiration Date ”). Any Awards outstanding as of the Expiration Date shall remain in effect until the earlier of the exercise thereof or the termination or the expiration of such Awards in accordance with their respective terms.

 

12. AMENDMENT OF PLAN

The Board may at any time modify and amend the Plan in any respect; provided , however , that the approval of a simple majority vote of the stockholders of the Corporation entitled to vote shall be obtained prior to any such amendment becoming effective if such approval is required by law or is necessary to comply with regulations promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission under Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended or Section 422 of the Code or the regulations promulgated by the Treasury Department thereunder. No such amendment to the Plan shall affect the terms or provisions of any Award granted by the Corporation prior to the effectiveness of such amendment unless otherwise agreed to by the holder thereof.

 

13. CAPTIONS

The use of captions in the Plan is for convenience. The captions are not intended to provide substantive rights.

 

14. ACCOUNTS AND STATEMENTS

The Corporation shall maintain records of the shares of Class A Common Stock held by each Participant and the details of each Award granted to the Participant, including (i) the


number of shares of Class A Common Stock subject to the Award; (ii) the number shares of Class A Common Stock subject to, and the Option Price of, each Option; (iii) the number of shares of Class A Common Stock in respect of which the Option has been exercised; (iv) the dates of such exercise; and (v) the maximum number of shares of Class A Common Stock which the Participant may still purchase under the Option.

 

15. WITHHOLDING TAXES

Whenever under the Plan shares of Class A Common Stock are to be delivered by a Participant upon grant of a Restricted Stock Award or upon exercise of an Option, the Corporation shall be entitled to require as a condition of delivery that the Participant remit or, in appropriate cases, agree to remit if and when due, an amount sufficient to satisfy any and all current or estimated future Federal, state and local income tax withholding obligations and/or the employee’s portion of any employment tax requirements relating thereto.

 

16. OTHER PROVISIONS

Each Award granted under the Plan may contain such other terms and conditions not inconsistent with the Plan as may be determined by the Committee, in its sole discretion. If Option Shares acquired by the exercise of an ISO granted under this Plan are disposed of within two years following the date of grant of the ISO or one year following the issuance of the Option Shares to the Participant (a “ Disqualifying Disposition ”), the holder of the Option Shares shall, immediately prior to such Disqualifying Disposition, notify the Corporation in writing of the date and terms of such Disqualifying Disposition and provide such other information regarding the Disqualifying Disposition as the Corporation may reasonably require.

 

17. NUMBER AND GENDER

With respect to words used in the Plan, the singular form shall include the plural form, the masculine gender shall include the feminine gender, and vice-versa, as the context requires

 

18. GOVERNING LAW

The validity and construction of the Plan and the instruments evidencing the Awards granted hereunder shall be governed by the laws of the State of Delaware.

As adopted by the Board of Directors

of MercadoLibre, Inc.

on November 3, 1999.

The amendment and restated of Plan as

adopted by the Stockholders

of MercadoLibre, Inc.

on May 5, 2000.

Exhibit 10.12

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Employment Agreement dated January 1st, 2007 (this “Agreement”) between:

 

(a) MercadoLibre Zonamerica S.A. , a sociedad anónima organized under the Laws of the Uruguay (“MercadoLibre”); and

 

(b) Marcos Galperín (“Executive”).

Certain capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the meanings given such terms on Schedule A hereto, unless otherwise defined herein.

Witnesseth:

Whereas, MercadoLibre desires to employ Executive, and Executive desires to be employed, as Chief Executive Officer of MercadoLibre on the terms and conditions set forth herein.

Now, therefore, the parties hereto agree as follows:

 

1. Employment .

MercadoLibre hereby employs Executive, and Executive hereby accepts such employment full-time, as Chief Executive Officer of MercadoLibre. Executive shall have such responsibilities as are consistent with his executive position and of such a nature as are usually associated with such office and shall report to the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre.

 

2. Term of Employment .

The term of employment shall be for an undetermined period beginning on January 1, 2007.

 

3. Compensation; Expenses .

(a) MercadoLibre shall pay to Executive a gross monthly salary of U$S 13,500 (U.S. dollars thirteen thousand five hundred) (“Gross Monthly Salary”) plus the a thirteenth monthly salary payable one half in June and one half in December (“Aguinaldo”) (hereinafter, the aggregate of the Gross Monthly Salary and the Aguinaldo, the “Base Salary”), together with a bonus compensation as MercadoLibre shall, in its sole discretion, may elect to pay to Executive (“Bonus Compensation”) (such Base Salary and Bonus Compensation being herein together referred to as the “Compensation”). The Compensation shall be subject to applicable withholding Taxes and other payments, including without limitation social security withholding obligations.


(b) MercadoLibre shall reimburse to the Executive (in accordance with and subject to the corporate policies of MercadoLibre in effect from time to time) for any adequate, reasonable and ordinary out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Executive in the performance of his duties as Chief Executive Officer under this agreement.

 

4. Termination of Employment .

(a) This agreement and obligations of Executive hereunder, may be terminated (i) by MercadoLibre when deems pertinent, in its sole discretion, in the event that (a) there is “Just Cause” as defined in Schedule I hereto; or (b) without Just Cause, or (ii) by the Executive upon resignation.

In the event of Termination of Employment for a “Just Cause” or resignation by Executive, Executive shall not be entitled to receive any severance indemnification under applicable labor laws and the provisions established in Section 7 below shall apply for two years following the date of Termination of Employment to the fullest extent authorized under applicable law.

(b) In the event of Termination of Employment without “Just Cause”, such Executive shall be entitled to a severance payment in an amount equal to 12 (twelve) times last Gross Monthly Salary received, less applicable Taxes and withholding obligations, Bonus Compensation is expressly excluded.

 

5. Confidentiality Agreement

(a) Executive recognizes that his position with MercadoLibre requires considerable responsibility and trust, and, in reliance on his loyalty, MercadoLibre may entrust such Executive with highly sensitive confidential, restricted, and proprietary information involving Confidential Information. For purposes of this Agreement, “ Confidential Information ” means information that is not generally known to the public and that is used, developed or obtained by MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Mercadolibre, Inc.”) or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated businesses, including, but not limited to, (i) information, observations, procedures and data obtained by Executive while employed by MercadoLibre (including those obtained prior to the date of this Agreement) concerning the business or affairs of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre Inc., or any of its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, (ii) products or services, (iii) costs and pricing structures, (iv) analyses, (v) drawings, photographs and reports, (vi) computer software, including operating systems, applications and program listings, (vii) flow charts, manuals and documentation, (viii) data bases, (ix) accounting and business methods, (x) inventions, devices, new developments, methods and processes, whether patentable or unpatentable and whether or not reduced to practice, (xi) customers and customer lists, (xii) other copyrightable works, (xiii) all production methods, processes, technology and trade secrets, and (xiv) all similar and related information in whatever form. Confidential Information will not include any information that has been published in a form generally available to the public

 

2


prior to the date Executive proposes to disclose or use such information. Confidential Information will not be deemed to have been published merely because individual portions of the information have been separately published, but only if all material features comprising such information have been published in combination.

(b) Executive agrees not to use or disclose any Confidential Information during his employment and for so long afterwards as the pertinent information or data remain Confidential Information, except during his employment for MercadoLibre as required to perform duties and as ordered by a court or administrative agency with appropriate jurisdiction over the subject matter of the case.

(c) Upon the request of MercadoLibre and, in any event, upon Termination of employment, Executive shall return to MercadoLibre all computer programs, documentation, memoranda, notes, records, drawings, manuals, or other documents pertaining to MercadoLibre’s business or Executive’s employment (including all copies thereof). Executive shall also return to MercadoLibre all materials relating to any Confidential Information.

 

6. Intellectual Property .

The Executive agrees that all Work Product belongs to MercadoLibre, Inc. or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates. The Executive will promptly disclose such Work Product to MercadoLibre and perform all actions reasonably requested by MercadoLibre (whether during or after its employment) to establish and confirm such ownership (including, without limitation, the execution and delivery of assignments, consents, powers of attorney and other instruments) and to provide reasonable assistance to MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre Inc. and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with the prosecution of any applications for patents, trademarks, tradenames, service marks or reissues thereof or in the prosecution and defense of interferences relating to any Work Product.

 

7. Non competition agreement .

Considering Executive may become familiar with Confidential Information it is possible that Executive could cause a grave harm to MercadoLibre if Executive worked for a competitor of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. and/or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. Accordingly, Executive agrees that, in consideration of the promises contained herein, Executive shall not, without the prior written permission of MercadoLibre, during the period of employment, and for a one-year period thereafter in the event of Termination of the Contract by any reason by either Party: (i) directly or indirectly engage or become interested or involved in any Competitive Business (in the manner defined above), whether such engagement, interest or involvement shall be as an employer, officer, director, owner, stockholder, employee, partner, joint venturer or consultant, lender, or assist others in engaging in any Competitive Business in the manner aforementioned descripted; (ii) induce employees of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates to terminate their employment with MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates or to engage in any Competitive Business; and (iii) solicit or to do business with any

 

3


present, past or prospective customer of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. For purposes of this Agreement, a “prospective customer” is an individual or business entity with which any employee of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates has had any business contact. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Competitive Business” means any business which competes with MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates’s businesses and operations during Executive’s employment and as of the date of the termination of Executive’s employment with MercadoLibre. To the extent that the covenant provided in this Section 7 may later be deemed by a court to be too broad to be enforced with respect to the duration or with respect to any particular activity or geographic area, the court making such determination shall have the power to reduce the duration or scope of the provision, and to add or delete specific words or phrases to or from the provision. The provision as modified shall then be enforced. The Executive understands that the foregoing restrictions may limit his ability to earn a livelihood in a business similar to the businesses of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates but nevertheless believes that he has received and will receive sufficient consideration and other benefits as an employee of MercadoLibre and as otherwise provided hereunder or as described in the recitals hereto to clearly justify such restrictions which, in any event (given his education, skills and ability), the Executive does not believe would prevent him from otherwise earning a living.

 

8. Vacations .

Executive shall be entitled to 25 working days of vacation per year.

 

9. Representations.

Each party hereby represents and warrants to the other party that (a) the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by such party does not and will not conflict with, breach, violate, or cause a default under any agreement, contract or instrument to which such party is a party or any judgment, order or decree to which such party is subject, and (b) upon the execution and delivery of this Agreement by such party, this Agreement will be a valid and binding obligation of such party, enforceable in accordance with its terms, except as enforcement hereof may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency or other laws affecting creditors rights generally, public policy principles arising from labor and other laws, or by general principles of equity. In addition, the Executive represents and warrants that the Executive is not a party to or bound by any employment agreement, consulting agreement, non-compete agreement, confidentiality agreement or similar agreement with any person.

 

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10. Miscellaneous .

(a) This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties related to the employment of Executive by MercadoLibre and other matters discussed herein and supersedes all prior promises, contracts, arrangements or understandings which are not set forth herein or in other agreements mentioned herein.

(b) All notices or other communications which are required or permitted hereunder shall be in writing and sufficient if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission, nationally recognized over-night courier or registered or certified mail:

If to MercadoLibre:

Tronador 4890 – 8 floor

Buenos Aires- Argentina

If to Executive:

Marcos Galperín

Any such notices or communications shall be deemed to have been received: (i) if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission (with transmission confirmed in a writing) or nationally recognized overnight courier, on the date of such delivery; or (ii) if sent by registered or certified mail, on the date on which such mailing was received by the party to whom it was addressed. Any party may by notice as aforesaid change the address to which notices or other communications to it are to be delivered or mailed.

(c) This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of Uruguay. However, the parties resolved that their rights and obligations under this Agreement shall be enforced in accordance with the express provisions of this Agreement; and to that end, in the event that there shall be any conflict between the express provisions of this Agreement and the substantive laws of Uruguay, then the express provisions of this Agreement shall be construed or enforced in a manner which shall provide to the parties substantially the benefits to which they would be entitled under the express terms of this Agreement, or construed or enforced in a manner which shall impose upon the parties substantially the obligations (but not more) which would be imposed upon them under the express terms of this Agreement.

(d) This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the parties hereto and any successor (whether by merger or otherwise) of MercadoLibre.

 

5


(e) Any waiver of any term or condition of this Agreement, or any amendment or supplementation of this Agreement, shall be effective only if in writing. A waiver of any breach or failure to enforce any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement shall not in any way affect, limit or waive a party’s rights under this Agreement at any time to enforce strict compliance thereafter with every term or condition of this Agreement.

(f) In the event that any provision contained in this Agreement shall be determined to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect for any reason, the validity, legality and enforceability of any such provision in every other respect and the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not, at the election of the party for whose benefit the provision exists, be in any way impaired.

In witness whereof, the parties execute this Agreement as of the date first above written.

 

MercadoLibre Zonamerica S.A.     Marcos Galperín :
By:  

 

    /S/: Marcos Galperín
/S/: Nicolás Szekasy    
/S/: Hernán Kazah    

 

6


Schedule I

Certain Definitions

For purposes of this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

Agreement ” shall mean this Agreement, as it may be amended or supplemented at any time and from time to time after the date hereof.

Just Cause ” shall mean and include the following:

(i) The commission by Executive of any gross misconduct or any offense serious enough for the relationship to become impossible to continue, including without limitation, Executive’s willful and continuing disregard of the lawful written instructions of the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre or Executive’s superiors;

(ii) Any action or any omission by Executive, resulting in Executive’s breach of his duty of loyalty or any act of self-dealing; and

(iii) Any material breach by Executive of his duties and obligations under this Agreement as decided by the Board of Directors of the Company.

(iv) Executive’s conviction, in the Board’s sole discretion, of any serious crime or offense for violating any law (including, without limitation, theft, fraud, paying directly or indirectly bribes or kick-backs to governmental officials, the crimes set forth in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 or the foreign equivalent thereof and Executive’s embezzlement of funds of MercadoLibre and any of its subsidiaries);

Government ” shall mean (or in the case of “ Governmental ” shall refer to a):

(i) the government of Uruguay;

(ii) any ministry, agency, department, authority, commission, administration, corporation, bank, court, magistrate, tribunal, arbitrator, instrumentality or political subdivision of, or within the geographical jurisdiction of Uruguay.

Tax ” shall mean any tax (or payment in the nature of a tax), penalty, interest or addition to tax imposed by or due any Governmental tax authority, including without limitation in respect of income, turnover taxes, stamp taxes, custom duties, value added taxes, employee withholding or payroll taxes or social security Liabilities.

Work Product ” shall mean all inventions, innovations, improvements, technical information, systems, software developments, methods, designs, analyses, drawings, reports, service marks, trademarks, tradenames, logos, and all similar or related information (whether patentable or unpatentable) which relates to MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated business,


development or existing or future products or services and which are conceived developed or made by the Executive (whether or not during usual business hours and whether or not in conjunction with any other person) while employed by MercadoLibre (including those conceived, developed or made prior to the date of this Agreement) together with all patent applications, letters patent, trademark, tradename and service mark applications or registrations, copyrights and reissues thereof that may be granted for or upon any of the foregoing.

 

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EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Employment Agreement dated January 1st, 2007 (this “Agreement”) between:

 

(a) MercadoLibre S.A. , a sociedad anónima organized under the Laws of the Republic of Argentina (“MercadoLibre”); and

 

(b) Hernán Kazah (“Executive”).

Certain capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the meanings given such terms on Schedule A hereto, unless otherwise defined herein.

Witnesseth:

Whereas, MercadoLibre desires to employ Executive, and Executive desires to be employed, as Chief Operating Officer of MercadoLibre on the terms and conditions set forth herein.

Now, therefore, the parties hereto agree as follows:

 

1. Employment .

MercadoLibre hereby employs Executive, and Executive hereby accepts such employment full-time, as Chief Operating Officer of MercadoLibre. Executive shall have such responsibilities as are consistent with his executive position and of such a nature as are usually associated with such office and shall report to the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre.

 

2. Term of Employment .

The term of employment shall be for an undetermined period beginning on January 1, 2007.

 

3. Compensation; Expenses .

(a) MercadoLibre shall pay to Executive a gross monthly salary of U$S 13,500 (U.S. dollars thirteen thousand five hundred) (“Gross Monthly Salary”) plus the a thirteenth monthly salary payable one half in June and one half in December (“Aguinaldo”) (hereinafter, the aggregate of the Gross Monthly Salary and the Aguinaldo, the “Base Salary”), together with a bonus compensation as MercadoLibre shall, in its sole discretion, may elect to pay to Executive (“Bonus Compensation”) (such Base Salary and Bonus Compensation being herein together referred to as the “Compensation”). The Compensation shall be subject to applicable withholding Taxes and other payments, including without limitation social security withholding obligations.


(b) MercadoLibre shall reimburse to the Executive (in accordance with and subject to the corporate policies of MercadoLibre in effect from time to time) for any adequate, reasonable and ordinary out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Executive in the performance of his duties as Chief Operating Officer under this agreement.

 

4. Termination of Employment .

(a) This agreement and obligations of Executive hereunder, may be terminated (i) by MercadoLibre when deems pertinent, in its sole discretion, in the event that (a) there is “Just Cause” as defined in Schedule I hereto; or (b) without Just Cause, or (ii) by the Executive upon resignation.

In the event of Termination of Employment for a “Just Cause” or resignation by Executive, Executive shall not be entitled to receive any severance indemnification under the Labor Contract Law No. 20,744 (“LCL”) and its modifications and the provisions established in Section 7 below shall apply for two years following the date of Termination of Employment to the fullest extent authorized under applicable law.

(b) In the event of Termination of Employment without “Just Cause”, such Executive shall be entitled to a severance payment in an amount equal to 12 (twelve) times last Gross Monthly Salary received, less applicable Taxes and withholding obligations, Bonus Compensation is expressly excluded.

 

5. Confidentiality Agreement

(a) Executive recognizes that his position with MercadoLibre requires considerable responsibility and trust, and, in reliance on his loyalty, MercadoLibre may entrust such Executive with highly sensitive confidential, restricted, and proprietary information involving Confidential Information. For purposes of this Agreement, “ Confidential Information ” means information that is not generally known to the public and that is used, developed or obtained by MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Mercadolibre, Inc.”) or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated businesses, including, but not limited to, (i) information, observations, procedures and data obtained by Executive while employed by MercadoLibre (including those obtained prior to the date of this Agreement) concerning the business or affairs of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre Inc., or any of its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, (ii) products or services, (iii) costs and pricing structures, (iv) analyses, (v) drawings, photographs and reports, (vi) computer software, including operating systems, applications and program listings, (vii) flow charts, manuals and documentation, (viii) data bases, (ix) accounting and business methods, (x) inventions, devices, new developments, methods and processes, whether patentable or unpatentable and whether or not reduced to practice, (xi) customers and customer lists, (xii) other copyrightable works, (xiii) all production methods, processes, technology and trade secrets, and (xiv) all similar and related information in whatever form. Confidential Information will not include any information that has been published in a form generally available to the public

 

2


prior to the date Executive proposes to disclose or use such information. Confidential Information will not be deemed to have been published merely because individual portions of the information have been separately published, but only if all material features comprising such information have been published in combination.

(b) Executive agrees not to use or disclose any Confidential Information during his employment and for so long afterwards as the pertinent information or data remain Confidential Information, except during his employment for MercadoLibre as required to perform duties and as ordered by a court or administrative agency with appropriate jurisdiction over the subject matter of the case.

(c) Upon the request of MercadoLibre and, in any event, upon Termination of employment, Executive shall return to MercadoLibre all computer programs, documentation, memoranda, notes, records, drawings, manuals, or other documents pertaining to MercadoLibre’s business or Executive’s employment (including all copies thereof). Executive shall also return to MercadoLibre all materials relating to any Confidential Information.

 

6. Intellectual Property .

The Executive agrees that all Work Product belongs to MercadoLibre, Inc. or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates. The Executive will promptly disclose such Work Product to MercadoLibre and perform all actions reasonably requested by MercadoLibre (whether during or after its employment) to establish and confirm such ownership (including, without limitation, the execution and delivery of assignments, consents, powers of attorney and other instruments) and to provide reasonable assistance to MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre Inc. and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with the prosecution of any applications for patents, trademarks, tradenames, service marks or reissues thereof or in the prosecution and defense of interferences relating to any Work Product.

 

7. Non competition agreement .

Considering Executive may become familiar with Confidential Information it is possible that Executive could cause a grave harm to MercadoLibre if Executive worked for a competitor of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. and/or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. Accordingly, Executive agrees that, in consideration of the promises contained herein, Executive shall not, without the prior written permission of MercadoLibre, during the period of employment, and for a one-year period thereafter in the event of Termination of the Contract by any reason by either Party: (i) directly or indirectly engage or become interested or involved in any Competitive Business (in the manner defined above), whether such engagement, interest or involvement shall be as an employer, officer, director, owner, stockholder, employee, partner, joint venturer or consultant, lender, or assist others in engaging in any Competitive Business in the manner aforementioned descripted; (ii) induce employees of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates to terminate their employment with MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates or to engage in any Competitive Business; and (iii) solicit or to do business with any

 

3


present, past or prospective customer of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. For purposes of this Agreement, a “prospective customer” is an individual or business entity with which any employee of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates has had any business contact. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Competitive Business” means any business which competes with MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates’s businesses and operations during Executive’s employment and as of the date of the termination of Executive’s employment with MercadoLibre. To the extent that the covenant provided in this Section 7 may later be deemed by a court to be too broad to be enforced with respect to the duration or with respect to any particular activity or geographic area, the court making such determination shall have the power to reduce the duration or scope of the provision, and to add or delete specific words or phrases to or from the provision. The provision as modified shall then be enforced. The Executive understands that the foregoing restrictions may limit his ability to earn a livelihood in a business similar to the businesses of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates but nevertheless believes that he has received and will receive sufficient consideration and other benefits as an employee of MercadoLibre and as otherwise provided hereunder or as described in the recitals hereto to clearly justify such restrictions which, in any event (given his education, skills and ability), the Executive does not believe would prevent him from otherwise earning a living.

 

8. Vacations .

Executive shall be entitled to 25 working days of vacation per year.

 

9. Representations.

Each party hereby represents and warrants to the other party that (a) the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by such party does not and will not conflict with, breach, violate, or cause a default under any agreement, contract or instrument to which such party is a party or any judgment, order or decree to which such party is subject, and (b) upon the execution and delivery of this Agreement by such party, this Agreement will be a valid and binding obligation of such party, enforceable in accordance with its terms, except as enforcement hereof may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency or other laws affecting creditors rights generally, public policy principles arising from labor and other laws, or by general principles of equity. In addition, the Executive represents and warrants that the Executive is not a party to or bound by any employment agreement, consulting agreement, non-compete agreement, confidentiality agreement or similar agreement with any person.

 

4


10. Miscellaneous .

(a) This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties related to the employment of Executive by MercadoLibre and other matters discussed herein and supersedes all prior promises, contracts, arrangements or understandings which are not set forth herein or in other agreements mentioned herein.

(b) All notices or other communications which are required or permitted hereunder shall be in writing and sufficient if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission, nationally recognized over-night courier or registered or certified mail:

If to MercadoLibre:

Tronador 4890 – 8 floor

Buenos Aires- Argentina

If to Executive:

Hernán Kazah

Any such notices or communications shall be deemed to have been received: (i) if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission (with transmission confirmed in a writing) or nationally recognized overnight courier, on the date of such delivery; or (ii) if sent by registered or certified mail, on the date on which such mailing was received by the party to whom it was addressed. Any party may by notice as aforesaid change the address to which notices or other communications to it are to be delivered or mailed.

(c) This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of the Republic of Argentina. However, the parties resolved that their rights and obligations under this Agreement shall be enforced in accordance with the express provisions of this Agreement; and to that end, in the event that there shall be any conflict between the express provisions of this Agreement and the substantive laws of the Republic of Argentina, then the express provisions of this Agreement shall be construed or enforced in a manner which shall provide to the parties substantially the benefits to which they would be entitled under the express terms of this Agreement, or construed or enforced in a manner which shall impose upon the parties substantially the obligations (but not more) which would be imposed upon them under the express terms of this Agreement.

(d) This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the parties hereto and any successor (whether by merger or otherwise) of MercadoLibre.

 

5


(e) Any waiver of any term or condition of this Agreement, or any amendment or supplementation of this Agreement, shall be effective only if in writing. A waiver of any breach or failure to enforce any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement shall not in any way affect, limit or waive a party’s rights under this Agreement at any time to enforce strict compliance thereafter with every term or condition of this Agreement.

(f) In the event that any provision contained in this Agreement shall be determined to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect for any reason, the validity, legality and enforceability of any such provision in every other respect and the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not, at the election of the party for whose benefit the provision exists, be in any way impaired.

In witness whereof, the parties execute this Agreement as of the date first above written.

 

MercadoLibre S.A.   Hernán Kazah:
By:  

 

  /S/: Hernán Kazah

/S/: Marcos Galperín

/S/: Nicolas Szekasy

 

6


Schedule I

Certain Definitions

For purposes of this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

Agreement ” shall mean this Agreement, as it may be amended or supplemented at any time and from time to time after the date hereof.

Just Cause ” shall mean and include the following:

(i) The commission by Executive of any gross misconduct or any offense serious enough for the relationship to become impossible to continue, including without limitation, Executive’s willful and continuing disregard of the lawful written instructions of the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre or Executive’s superiors;

(ii) Any action or any omission by Executive, resulting in Executive’s breach of his duty of loyalty or any act of self-dealing; and

(iii) Any material breach by Executive of his duties and obligations under this Agreement as decided by the Board of Directors of the Company.

(iv) Executive’s conviction, in the Board’s sole discretion, of any serious crime or offense for violating any law (including, without limitation, theft, fraud, paying directly or indirectly bribes or kick-backs to governmental officials, the crimes set forth in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 or the foreign equivalent thereof and Executive’s embezzlement of funds of MercadoLibre and any of its subsidiaries);

Government ” shall mean (or in the case of “ Governmental ” shall refer to a):

(i) the government of the Republic of Argentina;

(ii) any ministry, agency, department, authority, commission, administration, corporation, bank, court, magistrate, tribunal, arbitrator, instrumentality or political subdivision of, or within the geographical jurisdiction of Argentina.

Tax ” shall mean any tax (or payment in the nature of a tax), penalty, interest or addition to tax imposed by or due any Governmental tax authority, including without limitation in respect of income, turnover taxes, stamp taxes, custom duties, value added taxes, employee withholding or payroll taxes or social security Liabilities.

Work Product ” shall mean all inventions, innovations, improvements, technical information, systems, software developments, methods, designs, analyses, drawings, reports, service marks, trademarks, tradenames, logos, and all similar or related information (whether patentable or unpatentable) which relates to MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated business, development or existing or future products or services and which are conceived developed or made by the Executive (whether or not


during usual business hours and whether or not in conjunction with any other person) while employed by MercadoLibre (including those conceived, developed or made prior to the date of this Agreement) together with all patent applications, letters patent, trademark, tradename and service mark applications or registrations, copyrights and reissues thereof that may be granted for or upon any of the foregoing.

 

2


EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Employment Agreement dated January 1st, 2007 (this “Agreement”) between:

 

(a) MercadoLibre S.A. , a sociedad anónima organized under the Laws of the Republic of Argentina (“MercadoLibre”); and

 

(b) Nicolás Szekasy (“Executive”).

Certain capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the meanings given such terms on Schedule A hereto, unless otherwise defined herein.

Witnesseth:

Whereas, MercadoLibre desires to employ Executive, and Executive desires to be employed, as Chief Financial Officer of MercadoLibre on the terms and conditions set forth herein.

Now, therefore, the parties hereto agree as follows:

 

1. Employment .

MercadoLibre hereby employs Executive, and Executive hereby accepts such employment full-time, as Chief Financial Officer of MercadoLibre. Executive shall have such responsibilities as are consistent with his executive position and of such a nature as are usually associated with such office and shall report to the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre.

 

2. Term of Employment .

The term of employment shall be for an undetermined period beginning on January 1, 2007.

 

3. Compensation; Expenses .

(a) MercadoLibre shall pay to Executive a gross monthly salary of U$S 13,500 (U.S. dollars thirteen thousand five hundred) (“Gross Monthly Salary”) plus the a thirteenth monthly salary payable one half in June and one half in December (“Aguinaldo”) (hereinafter, the aggregate of the Gross Monthly Salary and the Aguinaldo, the “Base Salary”), together with a bonus compensation as MercadoLibre shall, in its sole discretion, may elect to pay to Executive (“Bonus Compensation”) (such Base Salary and Bonus Compensation being herein together referred to as the “Compensation”). The Compensation shall be subject to applicable withholding Taxes and other payments, including without limitation social security withholding obligations.


(b) MercadoLibre shall reimburse to the Executive (in accordance with and subject to the corporate policies of MercadoLibre in effect from time to time) for any adequate, reasonable and ordinary out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Executive in the performance of his duties as Chief Financial Officer under this agreement.

 

4. Termination of Employment .

(a) This agreement and obligations of Executive hereunder, may be terminated (i) by MercadoLibre when deems pertinent, in its sole discretion, in the event that (a) there is “Just Cause” as defined in Schedule I hereto; or (b) without Just Cause, or (ii) by the Executive upon resignation.

In the event of Termination of Employment for a “Just Cause” or resignation by Executive, Executive shall not be entitled to receive any severance indemnification under the Labor Contract Law No. 20,744 (“LCL”) and its modifications and the provisions established in Section 7 below shall apply for two years following the date of Termination of Employment to the fullest extent authorized under applicable law.

(b) In the event of Termination of Employment without “Just Cause”, such Executive shall be entitled to a severance payment in an amount equal to 12 (twelve) times last Gross Monthly Salary received, less applicable Taxes and withholding obligations, Bonus Compensation is expressly excluded.

 

5. Confidentiality Agreement

(a) Executive recognizes that his position with MercadoLibre requires considerable responsibility and trust, and, in reliance on his loyalty, MercadoLibre may entrust such Executive with highly sensitive confidential, restricted, and proprietary information involving Confidential Information. For purposes of this Agreement, “ Confidential Information ” means information that is not generally known to the public and that is used, developed or obtained by MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Mercadolibre, Inc.”) or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated businesses, including, but not limited to, (i) information, observations, procedures and data obtained by Executive while employed by MercadoLibre (including those obtained prior to the date of this Agreement) concerning the business or affairs of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre Inc., or any of its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, (ii) products or services, (iii) costs and pricing structures, (iv) analyses, (v) drawings, photographs and reports, (vi) computer software, including operating systems, applications and program listings, (vii) flow charts, manuals and documentation, (viii) data bases, (ix) accounting and business methods, (x) inventions, devices, new developments, methods and processes, whether patentable or unpatentable and whether or not reduced to practice, (xi) customers and customer lists, (xii) other copyrightable works, (xiii) all production methods, processes, technology and trade secrets, and (xiv) all similar and related information in whatever form. Confidential Information will not include any information that has been published in a form generally available to the public prior to the date Executive proposes to disclose or use such information. Confidential Information will not be deemed to have

 

2


been published merely because individual portions of the information have been separately published, but only if all material features comprising such information have been published in combination.

(b) Executive agrees not to use or disclose any Confidential Information during his employment and for so long afterwards as the pertinent information or data remain Confidential Information, except during his employment for MercadoLibre as required to perform duties and as ordered by a court or administrative agency with appropriate jurisdiction over the subject matter of the case.

(c) Upon the request of MercadoLibre and, in any event, upon Termination of employment, Executive shall return to MercadoLibre all computer programs, documentation, memoranda, notes, records, drawings, manuals, or other documents pertaining to MercadoLibre’s business or Executive’s employment (including all copies thereof). Executive shall also return to MercadoLibre all materials relating to any Confidential Information.

 

6. Intellectual Property .

The Executive agrees that all Work Product belongs to MercadoLibre, Inc. or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates. The Executive will promptly disclose such Work Product to MercadoLibre and perform all actions reasonably requested by MercadoLibre (whether during or after its employment) to establish and confirm such ownership (including, without limitation, the execution and delivery of assignments, consents, powers of attorney and other instruments) and to provide reasonable assistance to MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre Inc. and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with the prosecution of any applications for patents, trademarks, tradenames, service marks or reissues thereof or in the prosecution and defense of interferences relating to any Work Product.

 

7. Non competition agreement .

Considering Executive may become familiar with Confidential Information it is possible that Executive could cause a grave harm to MercadoLibre if Executive worked for a competitor of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. and/or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. Accordingly, Executive agrees that, in consideration of the promises contained herein, Executive shall not, without the prior written permission of MercadoLibre, during the period of employment, and for a one-year period thereafter in the event of Termination of the Contract by any reason by either Party: (i) directly or indirectly engage or become interested or involved in any Competitive Business (in the manner defined above), whether such engagement, interest or involvement shall be as an employer, officer, director, owner, stockholder, employee, partner, joint venturer or consultant, lender, or assist others in engaging in any Competitive Business in the manner aforementioned descripted; (ii) induce employees of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates to terminate their employment with MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates or to engage in any Competitive Business; and (iii) solicit or to do business with any

 

3


present, past or prospective customer of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. For purposes of this Agreement, a “prospective customer” is an individual or business entity with which any employee of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates has had any business contact. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Competitive Business” means any business which competes with MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates’s businesses and operations during Executive’s employment and as of the date of the termination of Executive’s employment with MercadoLibre. To the extent that the covenant provided in this Section 7 may later be deemed by a court to be too broad to be enforced with respect to the duration or with respect to any particular activity or geographic area, the court making such determination shall have the power to reduce the duration or scope of the provision, and to add or delete specific words or phrases to or from the provision. The provision as modified shall then be enforced. The Executive understands that the foregoing restrictions may limit his ability to earn a livelihood in a business similar to the businesses of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates but nevertheless believes that he has received and will receive sufficient consideration and other benefits as an employee of MercadoLibre and as otherwise provided hereunder or as described in the recitals hereto to clearly justify such restrictions which, in any event (given his education, skills and ability), the Executive does not believe would prevent him from otherwise earning a living.

 

8. Vacations .

Executive shall be entitled to 25 working days of vacation per year.

 

9. Representations.

Each party hereby represents and warrants to the other party that (a) the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by such party does not and will not conflict with, breach, violate, or cause a default under any agreement, contract or instrument to which such party is a party or any judgment, order or decree to which such party is subject, and (b) upon the execution and delivery of this Agreement by such party, this Agreement will be a valid and binding obligation of such party, enforceable in accordance with its terms, except as enforcement hereof may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency or other laws affecting creditors rights generally, public policy principles arising from labor and other laws, or by general principles of equity. In addition, the Executive represents and warrants that the Executive is not a party to or bound by any employment agreement, consulting agreement, non-compete agreement, confidentiality agreement or similar agreement with any person.

 

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10. Miscellaneous .

(a) This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties related to the employment of Executive by MercadoLibre and other matters discussed herein and supersedes all prior promises, contracts, arrangements or understandings which are not set forth herein or in other agreements mentioned herein.

(b) All notices or other communications which are required or permitted hereunder shall be in writing and sufficient if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission, nationally recognized over-night courier or registered or certified mail:

If to MercadoLibre:

Tronador 4890 – 8 floor

Buenos Aires- Argentina

If to Executive:

Nicolás Szekasy

Any such notices or communications shall be deemed to have been received: (i) if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission (with transmission confirmed in a writing) or nationally recognized overnight courier, on the date of such delivery; or (ii) if sent by registered or certified mail, on the date on which such mailing was received by the party to whom it was addressed. Any party may by notice as aforesaid change the address to which notices or other communications to it are to be delivered or mailed.

(c) This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of the Republic of Argentina. However, the parties resolved that their rights and obligations under this Agreement shall be enforced in accordance with the express provisions of this Agreement; and to that end, in the event that there shall be any conflict between the express provisions of this Agreement and the substantive laws of the Republic of Argentina, then the express provisions of this Agreement shall be construed or enforced in a manner which shall provide to the parties substantially the benefits to which they would be entitled under the express terms of this Agreement, or construed or enforced in a manner which shall impose upon the parties substantially the obligations (but not more) which would be imposed upon them under the express terms of this Agreement.

(d) This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the parties hereto and any successor (whether by merger or otherwise) of MercadoLibre.

 

5


(e) Any waiver of any term or condition of this Agreement, or any amendment or supplementation of this Agreement, shall be effective only if in writing. A waiver of any breach or failure to enforce any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement shall not in any way affect, limit or waive a party’s rights under this Agreement at any time to enforce strict compliance thereafter with every term or condition of this Agreement.

(f) In the event that any provision contained in this Agreement shall be determined to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect for any reason, the validity, legality and enforceability of any such provision in every other respect and the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not, at the election of the party for whose benefit the provision exists, be in any way impaired.

In witness whereof, the parties execute this Agreement as of the date first above written.

 

MercadoLibre S.A.   Nicolás Szekasy:
By:  

 

  /S/: Nicolás Szekasy

/S/: Marcos Galperín

/S/: Hernán Kazah

 

6


Schedule I

Certain Definitions

For purposes of this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

Agreement ” shall mean this Agreement, as it may be amended or supplemented at any time and from time to time after the date hereof.

Just Cause ” shall mean and include the following:

(i) The commission by Executive of any gross misconduct or any offense serious enough for the relationship to become impossible to continue, including without limitation, Executive’s willful and continuing disregard of the lawful written instructions of the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre or Executive’s superiors;

(ii) Any action or any omission by Executive, resulting in Executive’s breach of his duty of loyalty or any act of self-dealing; and

(iii) Any material breach by Executive of his duties and obligations under this Agreement as decided by the Board of Directors of the Company.

(iv) Executive’s conviction, in the Board’s sole discretion, of any serious crime or offense for violating any law (including, without limitation, theft, fraud, paying directly or indirectly bribes or kick-backs to governmental officials, the crimes set forth in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 or the foreign equivalent thereof and Executive’s embezzlement of funds of MercadoLibre and any of its subsidiaries);

Government ” shall mean (or in the case of “ Governmental ” shall refer to a):

(i) the government of the Republic of Argentina;

(ii) any ministry, agency, department, authority, commission, administration, corporation, bank, court, magistrate, tribunal, arbitrator, instrumentality or political subdivision of, or within the geographical jurisdiction of Argentina.

Tax ” shall mean any tax (or payment in the nature of a tax), penalty, interest or addition to tax imposed by or due any Governmental tax authority, including without limitation in respect of income, turnover taxes, stamp taxes, custom duties, value added taxes, employee withholding or payroll taxes or social security Liabilities.

Work Product ” shall mean all inventions, innovations, improvements, technical information, systems, software developments, methods, designs, analyses, drawings, reports, service marks, trademarks, tradenames, logos, and all similar or related information (whether patentable or unpatentable) which relates to MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated business, development or existing or future products or services and which are conceived developed or made by the Executive (whether or not


during usual business hours and whether or not in conjunction with any other person) while employed by MercadoLibre (including those conceived, developed or made prior to the date of this Agreement) together with all patent applications, letters patent, trademark, tradename and service mark applications or registrations, copyrights and reissues thereof that may be granted for or upon any of the foregoing.

 

2


EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Employment Agreement dated January 1st, 2007 (this “Agreement”) between:

 

(a) MercadoLibre S.A. , a sociedad anónima organized under the Laws of the Republic of Argentina (“MercadoLibre”); and

 

(b) Edgardo Sokolowicz (“Executive”).

Certain capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the meanings given such terms on Schedule A hereto, unless otherwise defined herein.

Witnesseth:

Whereas, MercadoLibre desires to employ Executive, and Executive desires to be employed, as Chief Technology Officer of MercadoLibre on the terms and conditions set forth herein.

Now, therefore, the parties hereto agree as follows:

 

1. Employment .

MercadoLibre hereby employs Executive, and Executive hereby accepts such employment full-time, as Chief Technology Officer of MercadoLibre. Executive shall have such responsibilities as are consistent with his executive position and of such a nature as are usually associated with such office and shall report to the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre.

 

2. Term of Employment .

The term of employment shall be for an undetermined period beginning on January 1, 2007.

 

3. Compensation; Expenses .

(a) MercadoLibre shall pay to Executive a gross monthly salary of U$S 9,000 (U.S. dollars nine thousand) (“Gross Monthly Salary”) plus the a thirteenth monthly salary payable one half in June and one half in December (“Aguinaldo”) (hereinafter, the aggregate of the Gross Monthly Salary and the Aguinaldo, the “Base Salary”), together with a bonus compensation as MercadoLibre shall, in its sole discretion, may elect to pay to Executive (“Bonus Compensation”) (such Base Salary and Bonus Compensation being herein together referred to as the “Compensation”). The Compensation shall be subject to applicable withholding Taxes and other payments, including without limitation social security withholding obligations.


(b) MercadoLibre shall reimburse to the Executive (in accordance with and subject to the corporate policies of MercadoLibre in effect from time to time) for any adequate, reasonable and ordinary out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Executive in the performance of his duties as Chief Technology Officer under this agreement.

 

4. Termination of Employment .

(a) This agreement and obligations of Executive hereunder, may be terminated (i) by MercadoLibre when deems pertinent, in its sole discretion, in the event that (a) there is “Just Cause” as defined in Schedule I hereto; or (b) without Just Cause, or (ii) by the Executive upon resignation.

In the event of Termination of Employment for a “Just Cause” or resignation by Executive, Executive shall not be entitled to receive any severance indemnification under the Labor Contract Law No. 20,744 (“LCL”) and its modifications and the provisions established in Section 7 below shall apply for two years following the date of Termination of Employment to the fullest extent authorized under applicable law.

(b) In the event of Termination of Employment without “Just Cause”, such Executive shall be entitled to a severance payment in an amount equal to 12 (twelve) times last Gross Monthly Salary received, less applicable Taxes and withholding obligations, Bonus Compensation is expressly excluded.

 

5. Confidentiality Agreement

(a) Executive recognizes that his position with MercadoLibre requires considerable responsibility and trust, and, in reliance on his loyalty, MercadoLibre may entrust such Executive with highly sensitive confidential, restricted, and proprietary information involving Confidential Information. For purposes of this Agreement, “ Confidential Information ” means information that is not generally known to the public and that is used, developed or obtained by MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Mercadolibre, Inc.”) or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated businesses, including, but not limited to, (i) information, observations, procedures and data obtained by Executive while employed by MercadoLibre (including those obtained prior to the date of this Agreement) concerning the business or affairs of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre Inc., or any of its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, (ii) products or services, (iii) costs and pricing structures, (iv) analyses, (v) drawings, photographs and reports, (vi) computer software, including operating systems, applications and program listings, (vii) flow charts, manuals and documentation, (viii) data bases, (ix) accounting and business methods, (x) inventions, devices, new developments, methods and processes, whether patentable or unpatentable and whether or not reduced to practice, (xi) customers and customer lists, (xii) other copyrightable works, (xiii) all production methods, processes, technology and trade secrets, and (xiv) all similar and related information in whatever form. Confidential Information will not include any information that has been published in a form generally available to the public prior to the date Executive proposes to disclose or use such information. Confidential Information will not be deemed to have

 

2


been published merely because individual portions of the information have been separately published, but only if all material features comprising such information have been published in combination.

(b) Executive agrees not to use or disclose any Confidential Information during his employment and for so long afterwards as the pertinent information or data remain Confidential Information, except during his employment for MercadoLibre as required to perform duties and as ordered by a court or administrative agency with appropriate jurisdiction over the subject matter of the case.

(c) Upon the request of MercadoLibre and, in any event, upon Termination of employment, Executive shall return to MercadoLibre all computer programs, documentation, memoranda, notes, records, drawings, manuals, or other documents pertaining to MercadoLibre’s business or Executive’s employment (including all copies thereof). Executive shall also return to MercadoLibre all materials relating to any Confidential Information.

 

6. Intellectual Property .

The Executive agrees that all Work Product belongs to MercadoLibre, Inc. or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates. The Executive will promptly disclose such Work Product to MercadoLibre and perform all actions reasonably requested by MercadoLibre (whether during or after its employment) to establish and confirm such ownership (including, without limitation, the execution and delivery of assignments, consents, powers of attorney and other instruments) and to provide reasonable assistance to MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre Inc. and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with the prosecution of any applications for patents, trademarks, tradenames, service marks or reissues thereof or in the prosecution and defense of interferences relating to any Work Product.

 

7. Non competition agreement .

Considering Executive may become familiar with Confidential Information it is possible that Executive could cause a grave harm to MercadoLibre if Executive worked for a competitor of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. and/or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. Accordingly, Executive agrees that, in consideration of the promises contained herein, Executive shall not, without the prior written permission of MercadoLibre, during the period of employment, and for a one-year period thereafter in the event of Termination of the Contract by any reason by either Party: (i) directly or indirectly engage or become interested or involved in any Competitive Business (in the manner defined above), whether such engagement, interest or involvement shall be as an employer, officer, director, owner, stockholder, employee, partner, joint venturer or consultant, lender, or assist others in engaging in any Competitive Business in the manner aforementioned descripted; (ii) induce employees of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates to terminate their employment with MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates or to engage in any Competitive Business; and (iii) solicit or to do business with any

 

3


present, past or prospective customer of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. For purposes of this Agreement, a “prospective customer” is an individual or business entity with which any employee of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates has had any business contact. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Competitive Business” means any business which competes with MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates’s businesses and operations during Executive’s employment and as of the date of the termination of Executive’s employment with MercadoLibre. To the extent that the covenant provided in this Section 7 may later be deemed by a court to be too broad to be enforced with respect to the duration or with respect to any particular activity or geographic area, the court making such determination shall have the power to reduce the duration or scope of the provision, and to add or delete specific words or phrases to or from the provision. The provision as modified shall then be enforced. The Executive understands that the foregoing restrictions may limit his ability to earn a livelihood in a business similar to the businesses of MercadoLibre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates but nevertheless believes that he has received and will receive sufficient consideration and other benefits as an employee of MercadoLibre and as otherwise provided hereunder or as described in the recitals hereto to clearly justify such restrictions which, in any event (given his education, skills and ability), the Executive does not believe would prevent him from otherwise earning a living.

 

8. Vacations .

Executive shall be entitled to 20 working days of vacation per year.

 

9. Representations.

Each party hereby represents and warrants to the other party that (a) the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by such party does not and will not conflict with, breach, violate, or cause a default under any agreement, contract or instrument to which such party is a party or any judgment, order or decree to which such party is subject, and (b) upon the execution and delivery of this Agreement by such party, this Agreement will be a valid and binding obligation of such party, enforceable in accordance with its terms, except as enforcement hereof may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency or other laws affecting creditors rights generally, public policy principles arising from labor and other laws, or by general principles of equity. In addition, the Executive represents and warrants that the Executive is not a party to or bound by any employment agreement, consulting agreement, non-compete agreement, confidentiality agreement or similar agreement with any person.

 

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10. Miscellaneous .

(a) This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties related to the employment of Executive by MercadoLibre and other matters discussed herein and supersedes all prior promises, contracts, arrangements or understandings which are not set forth herein or in other agreements mentioned herein.

(b) All notices or other communications which are required or permitted hereunder shall be in writing and sufficient if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission, nationally recognized over-night courier or registered or certified mail:

If to MercadoLibre:

Tronador 4890 – 8 floor

Buenos Aires- Argentina

If to Executive:

Edgardo Sokolowicz

Any such notices or communications shall be deemed to have been received: (i) if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission (with transmission confirmed in a writing) or nationally recognized overnight courier, on the date of such delivery; or (ii) if sent by registered or certified mail, on the date on which such mailing was received by the party to whom it was addressed. Any party may by notice as aforesaid change the address to which notices or other communications to it are to be delivered or mailed.

(c) This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of the Republic of Argentina. However, the parties resolved that their rights and obligations under this Agreement shall be enforced in accordance with the express provisions of this Agreement; and to that end, in the event that there shall be any conflict between the express provisions of this Agreement and the substantive laws of the Republic of Argentina, then the express provisions of this Agreement shall be construed or enforced in a manner which shall provide to the parties substantially the benefits to which they would be entitled under the express terms of this Agreement, or construed or enforced in a manner which shall impose upon the parties substantially the obligations (but not more) which would be imposed upon them under the express terms of this Agreement.

(d) This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the parties hereto and any successor (whether by merger or otherwise) of MercadoLibre.

 

5


(e) Any waiver of any term or condition of this Agreement, or any amendment or supplementation of this Agreement, shall be effective only if in writing. A waiver of any breach or failure to enforce any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement shall not in any way affect, limit or waive a party’s rights under this Agreement at any time to enforce strict compliance thereafter with every term or condition of this Agreement.

(f) In the event that any provision contained in this Agreement shall be determined to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect for any reason, the validity, legality and enforceability of any such provision in every other respect and the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not, at the election of the party for whose benefit the provision exists, be in any way impaired.

In witness whereof, the parties execute this Agreement as of the date first above written.

 

MercadoLibre S.A.     Edgardo Sokolowicz:
By:  

 

    /S/: Edgardo Sokolowicz
/S/: Marcos Galperín    
/S/: Nicolas Szekasy    

 

6


Schedule I

Certain Definitions

For purposes of this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

Agreement ” shall mean this Agreement, as it may be amended or supplemented at any time and from time to time after the date hereof.

Just Cause ” shall mean and include the following:

(i) The commission by Executive of any gross misconduct or any offense serious enough for the relationship to become impossible to continue, including without limitation, Executive’s willful and continuing disregard of the lawful written instructions of the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre or Executive’s superiors;

(ii) Any action or any omission by Executive, resulting in Executive’s breach of his duty of loyalty or any act of self-dealing; and

(iii) Any material breach by Executive of his duties and obligations under this Agreement as decided by the Board of Directors of the Company.

(iv) Executive’s conviction, in the Board’s sole discretion, of any serious crime or offense for violating any law (including, without limitation, theft, fraud, paying directly or indirectly bribes or kick-backs to governmental officials, the crimes set forth in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 or the foreign equivalent thereof and Executive’s embezzlement of funds of MercadoLibre and any of its subsidiaries);

Government ” shall mean (or in the case of “ Governmental ” shall refer to a):

(i) the government of the Republic of Argentina;

(ii) any ministry, agency, department, authority, commission, administration, corporation, bank, court, magistrate, tribunal, arbitrator, instrumentality or political subdivision of, or within the geographical jurisdiction of Argentina.

Tax ” shall mean any tax (or payment in the nature of a tax), penalty, interest or addition to tax imposed by or due any Governmental tax authority, including without limitation in respect of income, turnover taxes, stamp taxes, custom duties, value added taxes, employee withholding or payroll taxes or social security Liabilities.

Work Product ” shall mean all inventions, innovations, improvements, technical information, systems, software developments, methods, designs, analyses, drawings, reports, service marks, trademarks, tradenames, logos, and all similar or related information (whether patentable or unpatentable) which relates to MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated business, development or existing or future products or services and which are conceived developed or made by the Executive (whether or


not during usual business hours and whether or not in conjunction with any other person) while employed by MercadoLibre (including those conceived, developed or made prior to the date of this Agreement) together with all patent applications, letters patent, trademark, tradename and service mark applications or registrations, copyrights and reissues thereof that may be granted for or upon any of the foregoing.

 

2


EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Employment Agreement dated January 1st, 2007 (this “Agreement”) between:

 

(a) MercadoLivre.com Atividades de Internet Ltda. , a sociedade de responsabilidade limitada organized under the Laws of Brazil (“MercadoLivre”); and

 

(b) Stelleo Passos Tolda (“Executive”).

Certain capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the meanings given such terms on Schedule A hereto, unless otherwise defined herein.

Witnesseth:

Whereas, MercadoLivre desires to employ Executive, and Executive desires to be employed, as Country Manager of MercadoLivre on the terms and conditions set forth herein.

Now, therefore, the parties hereto agree as follows:

 

1. Employment .

MercadoLivre hereby employs Executive, and Executive hereby accepts such employment full-time, as Country Manager of MercadoLivre. Executive shall have such responsibilities as are consistent with his executive position and of such a nature as are usually associated with such office and shall report to the Board of Directors of MercadoLivre.

 

2. Term of Employment .

The term of employment shall be for an undetermined period beginning on January 1, 2007.

 

3. Compensation; Expenses .

(a) MercadoLivre shall pay to Executive a gross monthly salary of R$ 29,000 (Brazilian Reais twenty nine thousand) (“Gross Monthly Salary”) plus a thirteenth salary (“13 Salary”) plus vacation license (“Ferias”) payable according to the provisions established by the applicable labor laws (hereinafter, the aggregate of the Gross Monthly Salary and the 13 Salary and Ferias, the “Base Salary”), together with a bonus compensation as MercadoLivre shall, in its sole discretion, may elect to pay to Executive (“Bonus Compensation”) (such Base Salary and Bonus Compensation being herein together referred to as the “Compensation”). The Compensation shall be subject to applicable withholding Taxes and other payments, including without limitation social security withholding obligations.


(b) MercadoLivre shall reimburse to the Executive (in accordance with and subject to the corporate policies of MercadoLivre in effect from time to time) for any adequate, reasonable and ordinary out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Executive in the performance of his duties as Country Manager under this agreement.

 

4. Termination of Employment .

(a) This agreement and obligations of Executive hereunder, may be terminated (i) by MercadoLivre when deems pertinent, in its sole discretion, in the event that (a) there is “Just Cause” as defined in Schedule I hereto; or (b) without Just Cause, or (ii) by the Executive upon resignation.

In the event of Termination of Employment for a “Just Cause” or resignation by Executive, Executive shall not be entitled to receive any severance indemnification under the applicable labor laws and the provisions established in Section 7 below shall apply for two years following the date of Termination of Employment to the fullest extent authorized under applicable law.

(b) In the event of Termination of Employment without “Just Cause”, such Executive shall be entitled to a severance payment in an amount equal to 12 (twelve) times last Gross Monthly Salary received, less applicable Taxes and withholding obligations, Bonus Compensation is expressly excluded.

 

5. Confidentiality Agreement

(a) Executive recognizes that his position with MercadoLivre requires considerable responsibility and trust, and, in reliance on his loyalty, MercadoLivre may entrust such Executive with highly sensitive confidential, restricted, and proprietary information involving Confidential Information. For purposes of this Agreement, “ Confidential Information ” means information that is not generally known to the public and that is used, developed or obtained by MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“MercadoLibre, Inc.”) or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with MercadoLibre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated businesses, including, but not limited to, (i) information, observations, procedures and data obtained by Executive while employed by MercadoLivre (including those obtained prior to the date of this Agreement) concerning the business or affairs of MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre Inc., or any of its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, (ii) products or services, (iii) costs and pricing structures, (iv) analyses, (v) drawings, photographs and reports, (vi) computer software, including operating systems, applications and program listings, (vii) flow charts, manuals and documentation, (viii) data bases, (ix) accounting and business methods, (x) inventions, devices, new developments, methods and processes, whether patentable or unpatentable and whether or not reduced to practice, (xi) customers and customer lists, (xii) other copyrightable works, (xiii) all production methods, processes, technology and trade secrets, and (xiv) all similar and related information in whatever form. Confidential Information will not include any information that has been published in a form generally available to the public

 

2


prior to the date Executive proposes to disclose or use such information. Confidential Information will not be deemed to have been published merely because individual portions of the information have been separately published, but only if all material features comprising such information have been published in combination.

(b) Executive agrees not to use or disclose any Confidential Information during his employment and for so long afterwards as the pertinent information or data remain Confidential Information, except during his employment for MercadoLivre as required to perform duties and as ordered by a court or administrative agency with appropriate jurisdiction over the subject matter of the case.

(c) Upon the request of MercadoLivre and, in any event, upon Termination of employment, Executive shall return to MercadoLivre all computer programs, documentation, memoranda, notes, records, drawings, manuals, or other documents pertaining to MercadoLivre’s business or Executive’s employment (including all copies thereof). Executive shall also return to MercadoLivre all materials relating to any Confidential Information.

 

6. Intellectual Property .

The Executive agrees that all Work Product belongs to MercadoLivre, Inc. or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates. The Executive will promptly disclose such Work Product to MercadoLivre and perform all actions reasonably requested by MercadoLivre (whether during or after its employment) to establish and confirm such ownership (including, without limitation, the execution and delivery of assignments, consents, powers of attorney and other instruments) and to provide reasonable assistance to MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre Inc. and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates in connection with the prosecution of any applications for patents, trademarks, tradenames, service marks or reissues thereof or in the prosecution and defense of interferences relating to any Work Product.

 

7. Non competition agreement .

Considering Executive may become familiar with Confidential Information it is possible that Executive could cause a grave harm to MercadoLivre if Executive worked for a competitor of MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre, Inc. and/or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. Accordingly, Executive agrees that, in consideration of the promises contained herein, Executive shall not, without the prior written permission of MercadoLivre, during the period of employment, and for a one-year period thereafter in the event of Termination of the Contract by any reason by either Party: (i) directly or indirectly engage or become interested or involved in any Competitive Business (in the manner defined above), whether such engagement, interest or involvement shall be as an employer, officer, director, owner, stockholder, employee, partner, joint venturer or consultant, lender, or assist others in engaging in any Competitive Business in the manner aforementioned descripted; (ii) induce employees of MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates to terminate their employment with MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates or to engage in any Competitive Business; and (iii) solicit or to do business with any

 

3


present, past or prospective customer of MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. For purposes of this Agreement, a “prospective customer” is an individual or business entity with which any employee of MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates has had any business contact. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Competitive Business” means any business which competes with MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates’s businesses and operations during Executive’s employment and as of the date of the termination of Executive’s employment with MercadoLivre. To the extent that the covenant provided in this Section 7 may later be deemed by a court to be too broad to be enforced with respect to the duration or with respect to any particular activity or geographic area, the court making such determination shall have the power to reduce the duration or scope of the provision, and to add or delete specific words or phrases to or from the provision. The provision as modified shall then be enforced. The Executive understands that the foregoing restrictions may limit his ability to earn a livelihood in a business similar to the businesses of MercadoLivre, MercadoLibre, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates but nevertheless believes that he has received and will receive sufficient consideration and other benefits as an employee of MercadoLivre and as otherwise provided hereunder or as described in the recitals hereto to clearly justify such restrictions which, in any event (given his education, skills and ability), the Executive does not believe would prevent him from otherwise earning a living.

 

8. Vacations .

Executive shall be entitled to a vacation license according to the provisions established by the applicable labor laws.

 

9. Representations.

Each party hereby represents and warrants to the other party that (a) the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by such party does not and will not conflict with, breach, violate, or cause a default under any agreement, contract or instrument to which such party is a party or any judgment, order or decree to which such party is subject, and (b) upon the execution and delivery of this Agreement by such party, this Agreement will be a valid and binding obligation of such party, enforceable in accordance with its terms, except as enforcement hereof may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency or other laws affecting creditors rights generally, public policy principles arising from labor and other laws, or by general principles of equity. In addition, the Executive represents and warrants that the Executive is not a party to or bound by any employment agreement, consulting agreement, non-compete agreement, confidentiality agreement or similar agreement with any person.

 

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10. Miscellaneous .

(a) This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties related to the employment of Executive by MercadoLivre and other matters discussed herein and supersede all prior promises, contracts, arrangements or understandings which are not set forth herein or in other agreements mentioned herein.

(b) All notices or other communications which are required or permitted hereunder shall be in writing and sufficient if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission, nationally recognized over-night courier or registered or certified mail:

If to MercadoLivre:

Rua Gomes de Carvalho 1306 7andar

vila olímpia, São Paulo, SP

CEP 04562-030

Brazil

If to Executive:

Stelleo Passos Tolda

Any such notices or communications shall be deemed to have been received: (i) if delivered personally or sent by facsimile transmission (with transmission confirmed in a writing) or nationally recognized overnight courier, on the date of such delivery; or (ii) if sent by registered or certified mail, on the date on which such mailing was received by the party to whom it was addressed. Any party may by notice as aforesaid change the address to which notices or other communications to it are to be delivered or mailed.

(c) This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of Brazil. However, the parties resolved that their rights and obligations under this Agreement shall be enforced in accordance with the express provisions of this Agreement; and to that end, in the event that there shall be any conflict between the express provisions of this Agreement and the substantive laws of Brazil, then the express provisions of this Agreement shall be construed or enforced in a manner which shall provide to the parties substantially the benefits to which they would be entitled under the express terms of this Agreement, or construed or enforced in a manner which shall impose upon the parties substantially the obligations (but not more) which would be imposed upon them under the express terms of this Agreement.

(d) This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the parties hereto and any successor (whether by merger or otherwise) of MercadoLivre.

 

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(e) Any waiver of any term or condition of this Agreement, or any amendment or supplementation of this Agreement, shall be effective only if in writing. A waiver of any breach or failure to enforce any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement shall not in any way affect, limit or waive a party’s rights under this Agreement at any time to enforce strict compliance thereafter with every term or condition of this Agreement.

(f) In the event that any provision contained in this Agreement shall be determined to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect for any reason, the validity, legality and enforceability of any such provision in every other respect and the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall not, at the election of the party for whose benefit the provision exists, be in any way impaired.

In witness whereof, the parties execute this Agreement as of the date first above written.

 

MercadoLivre.com Atividades de Internet Ltda.   Stelleo Passos Tolda:
By:  

 

  /S/: Stelleo Passos Tolda

/S/: Marcos Galperín

 

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Schedule I

Certain Definitions

For purposes of this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

Agreement ” shall mean this Agreement, as it may be amended or supplemented at any time and from time to time after the date hereof.

Just Cause ” shall mean and include the following:

(i) The commission by Executive of any gross misconduct or any offense serious enough for the relationship to become impossible to continue, including without limitation, Executive’s willful and continuing disregard of the lawful written instructions of the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre, Inc. or Executive’s superiors;

(ii) Any action or any omission by Executive, resulting in Executive’s breach of his duty of loyalty or any act of self-dealing; and

(iii) Any material breach by Executive of his duties and obligations under this Agreement as decided by the Board of Directors of MercadoLibre, Inc or the Company.

(iv) Executive’s conviction, in the Board’s sole discretion, of any serious crime or offense for violating any law (including, without limitation, theft, fraud, paying directly or indirectly bribes or kick-backs to governmental officials, the crimes set forth in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 or the foreign equivalent thereof and Executive’s embezzlement of funds of MercadoLivre and any of its subsidiaries);

Government ” shall mean (or in the case of “ Governmental ” shall refer to a):

(i) the government of Brazil;

(ii) any ministry, agency, department, authority, commission, administration, corporation, bank, court, magistrate, tribunal, arbitrator, instrumentality or political subdivision of, or within the geographical jurisdiction of Brazil.

Tax ” shall mean any tax (or payment in the nature of a tax), penalty, interest or addition to tax imposed by or due any Governmental tax authority, including without limitation in respect of income, turnover taxes, stamp taxes, custom duties, value added taxes, employee withholding or payroll taxes or social security Liabilities.

Work Product ” shall mean all inventions, innovations, improvements, technical information, systems, software developments, methods, designs, analyses, drawings, reports, service marks, trademarks, tradenames, logos, and all similar or related information (whether patentable or unpatentable) which relates to MercadoLivre, Inc.’s or any of its subsidiaries’ actual or anticipated business,


development or existing or future products or services and which are conceived developed or made by the Executive (whether or not during usual business hours and whether or not in conjunction with any other person) while employed by MercadoLivre (including those conceived, developed or made prior to the date of this Agreement) together with all patent applications, letters patent, trademark, tradename and service mark applications or registrations, copyrights and reissues thereof that may be granted for or upon any of the foregoing.

 

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Exhibit 23.02

CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

We hereby consent to the use in this Amendment No. 1 Registration Statement on Form S-1 of our report dated May 11, 2007 relating to the financial statements of MercadoLibre, Inc., which appears in such Registration Statement. We also consent the use of our report dated May 11, 2007 relating to the combined statements of operations, of changes in net investment and of cash flows of DeRemate Operations, which appears in such Registration Statement. We also consent to the references to us under the heading “Experts” in such Registration Statement.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

July 12, 2007

Price Waterhouse & Co S.R.L.

 

By:   /s/ Juan Carlos Grassi   (Partner)
  Juan Carlos Grassi