Mercadolibre (NASDAQ: MELI), the "Amazon of Latin America," has been a stellar stock over the past year, returning nearly 82%. The company looks poised to dominate Latin American e-commerce as it continues to innovate and spoil consumers. Mercadolibre has generated a lot of interest from investors recently, so let's dive in and learn more about the origins and background of this game-changing business.
A young man, heir to one of the world's largest leather companies, decided to forge his own path. After high school, he gave up the dream of being a rugby star and decided to study finance at the esteemed Wharton School of Business. A couple of years later, he enrolled in Stanford's Business School. There, he was intrigued by the business model of eBay. After studying it meticulously, he dreamt up his own version of eBay to start in his home country of Argentina.
Fantastically, while still at Stanford, he secured funding for his business dream by offering a guest speaker named John Muse a ride back to his private plane. During that car ride, our mystery man successfully pitched his idea -- even purposely taking a wrong turn to buy time. The company was soon started.
Source: Fool.com