Meet Argentina’s richest man
The boss of Mercado Libre ponders Javier Milei, self-doubt and the dangers of wokery
Even billionaires ponder the path not taken. At 17, Marcos Galperin had returned from a tour playing competitive rugby in Australia and New Zealand, two egg-chasing powerhouses, when he was offered a place at the University of Pennsylvania to study business. “I had to make a choice,” recalls the 52-year-old founder of Mercado Libre, Latin America’s dominant e-commerce and payments firm, from his office in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital. But old dreams die hard. “If I were to be born again I would definitely go for a sports career,” says Mr Galperin. Still, being a billionaire has its compensations. Last year he bought the Miami Sharks, a rugby team in the United States.
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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “The 70-billion-dollar choice”
From the April 27th 2024 edition
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