Unauthorized Galperin biography sparks dispute over Mercado Libre’s story

The story of Marcos Galperin is reaching bookstores amid a dispute that goes beyond the career of a successful entrepreneur: who gets to tell the story of Mercado Libre’s transformation, and how should its founder’s influence be understood? Sudamericana, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is publishing Galperin, an unauthorized biography by journalist Jairo Straccia. The publisher’s catalog lists the ebook as available from November 1, 2026.

Against that backdrop, an internal message attributed to Ariel “Ari” Szarfsztejn, Mercado Libre’s global CEO since January 2026, distances the company from the book. Szarfsztejn studied economics at the University of Buenos Aires, earned an MBA from Stanford and joined the company in 2017. He led its logistics and e-commerce operations before succeeding Galperin as CEO.

The message says Galperin did not cooperate with the author, questions the use of unidentified sources and rejects what it describes as an interpretation at odds with the founder’s and the company’s values.

It raises two distinct objections: one about participation and sourcing, the other about the book’s political perspective. The publisher presents the biography as an investigation into Galperin’s rise in business and his emergence as a prominent voice in Latin American public debate.

What the message to employees says

The screenshot bears Szarfsztejn’s name and opens by alerting employees to the publication of an unauthorized biography of Marcos Galperin and Mercado Libre. Its first point is that the founder did not take part: “Marcos did not participate in the book or provide his account for its preparation,” the message says.

According to the text, Mercado Libre’s executive team did not participate either. It therefore says the book does not represent the founder’s views or statements. The message then challenges the reporting method, arguing that the author relies on unnamed sources whose claims the company cannot verify.

Its clearest objection concerns the book’s approach. The biography is told from an “ideological perspective” that does not reflect the values of either Mercado Libre or Galperin, the message says. The screenshot does not identify particular episodes it considers false or provide a detailed rebuttal of specific passages. Its criticism is directed at the author’s overall interpretation.

The closing returns to the language of an internal company message. It praises the history employees build through their daily work, urges them to keep writing it together and ends on an optimistic note: “The best is on its way.” The defense of the founder is thus also a statement about the company’s identity to its own staff.

What the book covers and how it was reported

Galperin is the first book by Straccia, a journalist specializing in economics and business who worked at Fortuna magazine and served as executive editor of Perfil. The 320-page volume is listed by Penguin in a paperback edition with flaps and as an ebook, the latter scheduled to become available on November 1.

Straccia combines an account of Galperin’s business career with an examination of his political profile. Sudamericana’s description mentions the growth of Mercado Libre and its payments service Mercado Pago, Galperin’s education in the United States, his support for Argentine President Javier Milei and his relationship to the world of major technology entrepreneurs.

The introduction available on the publisher’s website makes that approach clear from the outset. It contrasts the platforms’ everyday role in shopping and payments with their founder’s political interventions on social media. That is the author’s stated interpretation and one of the organizing ideas of his investigation.

Straccia says the reporting and writing took two and a half years. His acknowledgments offer a partial picture of the research: he describes reviewing financial statements, social media posts and other documents, and credits the consultancy Ad hoc with helping analyze online activity. He also says some sources asked not to be named because they feared possible reprisals.

The journalist discussed the project on 540°, a program produced by Cenital. In a description published by that outlet on October 21, he said he had spoken with many people close to Galperin and obtained valuable information. On October 23, Infobae published an excerpt from the book dealing with Galperin’s relationship with Milei and the founder’s public positions.

A company history and a contest over its image

The disagreement comes after Mercado Libre’s growth made its founder influential well beyond the company’s day-to-day management. E-commerce, logistics and financial services are part of a regional business that affects sellers, consumers and competitors. An account of Galperin’s career therefore also examines the decisions behind that expansion.

The company, meanwhile, has entered a new leadership phase. Since January 1, 2026, Galperin has been executive chairman of the board and Szarfsztejn has served as CEO. Mercado Libre’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirms that division of responsibilities. The founder retains a strategic role while his successor leads executive management.

The message attributed to Szarfsztejn seeks to keep the images of the founder and the organization closely aligned in the face of an outside account. The book proposes to view the same trajectory through questions of power and ideology. Their competing accounts show the distance between an independently reported biography and the way company leaders want employees to understand its history.

Who is Marcos Galperin?

Marcos Galperin is an Argentine entrepreneur born on October 31, 1971. He graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1994 and received an MBA from Stanford in 1999. Before starting Mercado Libre, he worked at YPF and interned at J.P. Morgan in New York.

He founded Mercado Libre in 1999 with other entrepreneurs connected to Stanford, including Hernán Kazah and Stelleo Tolda. The online marketplace expanded across Latin America and developed payments and logistics services. It went public on Nasdaq in 2007. Galperin remained CEO through the end of 2025; since January 2026, he has been executive chairman of the board and involved in the company’s long-term strategy.