Argentina’s richest individual, Marcos Galperin, is leaving his role as chief executive officer of Latin American e-commerce leviathan Mercado Libre after 26 years in the role.

He will stay on as executive chairman. Ariel Szarfsztejn, currently the company’s head of commerce, will replace him as CEO on January 1, 2026.

Galperin announced the news in an open letter posted to social media platform X on Wednesday afternoon. 

“My focus will be on strategy, product evolution, culture, capital assignment decisions, some specific projects, and on how we will continue to apply artificial intelligence to transform our business and our company,” he wrote of his new role.

He added that he was “absolutely convinced” that Szarfsztejn was the right person for the role.

A graduate of the University of Buenos Aires and Stanford, Szarfsztejn has been with the company since 2017, initially handling strategy and new business before moving on to the company’s logistics across Latin America and, most recently, its Marketplace product.

“He possesses the capacity, leadership, team trust, and fundamentally, the culture necessary to guide MELI [Mercado Libre] for many more years,” Galperin wrote.

Galperin described the handover as a “generational change” that had been in the works for years.

“While I still have the same energy and passion as the first day, after competing favorably against some of the biggest companies in the world, I think one of the biggest challenges MELI has ahead is to ensure a successful transition once its founding CEO leaves that role. I have seen technology companies struggle in that process. That’s why I decided to lead it with plenty of time, on our own terms,” he said of his departure from the job.

Forbes magazine puts Galperin’s net worth at US$10.2 billion, making him the 280th richest person in the world, and describes Mercado Libre as the “eBay of Argentina.” The company also owns Mercado Pago, the popular digital wallet and payment platform, recognizable at businesses around Argentina by its sky-blue QR code payment signs — though the platform has recently switched to the same yellow as the marketplace. 

Mercado Libre became the first Argentine tech company to go public on the Nasdaq, in 2007. It operates in 18 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru.