TIVP054: Mercado Libre: More than just "the Amazon of Latin America" w/ Daniel Mahncke & Shawn O’Malley
The Intrinsic Value Podcast - The Investor’s Podcast Network
Margin History and Reinvestment Tradeoff
Daniel explains past high margins, 2017 reinvestments, and how spending compressed margins to build moats.
Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley take a deep dive into Mercado Libre, the dominant e-commerce and fintech platform in Latin America. What started as an eBay-like marketplace has evolved into a fully integrated ecosystem spanning online retail, logistics, digital payments, lending, and advertising, with leading positions across Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN: 00:00:00 - Intro
00:10:28 - About Mercado Libre’s founding story
00:12:05 - How it won the e-commerce market
00:14:14 - How and why it built its logistics network
00:38:45 - What competitors are the biggest risk
00:46:51 - What flywheel is powering the business
01:00:50 - Why Mercado Pago is such a powerful business
01:07:59 - About Mercado Libre’s management and capital allocation
01:18:29 - Whether Shawn and Daniel add MELI to the portfolio
*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.
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- Listen to Management Podcasts.
- Read the Potential Multibagger Article on Mercado Libre.
- Tune in to the Business Breakdown Episode on Mercado Libre.
- Read the Substack Article on Mercado Libre.
- Check out the McKinsey Report on Payments in Latin America.
- Explore our previous Intrinsic Value breakdowns: Uber, Nike, Reddit, Nintendo, Airbnb, AutoZone, Alphabet, Ulta, John Deere, Madison Square Garden Sports.
- Related books mentioned in the podcast.
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