MercadoLibre, Inc. Initiates Quarterly Cash Dividend

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Feb. 23, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MercadoLibre, Inc. (Nasdaq:MELI) ( http://www.mercadolibre.com), Latin America's leading e-commerce technology company, today announced that its Board of Directors has adopted a dividend policy pursuant to which the Company intends to pay quarterly cash dividends on its common stock in 2011. The Board declared the first quarterly cash dividend of $0.08 per share payable to holders of the Company's common stock.

The Company anticipates a total annual dividend of $0.32 per share of common stock in 2011, or approximately $14.0 million, based on the current number of outstanding shares. The first quarterly cash dividend will be paid on April 15, 2011 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 31, 2011

"We are pleased to initiate a quarterly cash dividend policy, which indicates our confidence in our financial strength and ability to generate sustained cash flow from operations going forward," said Marcos Galperin, MercadoLibre's President and CEO. "With our powerful e-commerce ecosystem and a value proposition that continues to prove very attractive to the fast-growing base of Latin American Internet users, we have built momentum and have positioned our business very well for the future. We anticipate returning approximately $14 million to shareholders in 2011 as a result of this dividend policy, an amount that allows us to reward our shareholders while maintaining sufficient cash levels to aggressively invest in our business. In future years, we expect to adjust our annual dividend roughly in line with our growth in net income."

The cash dividend policy and the payment of future cash dividends under that policy will be made at the discretion of the Company's Board of Directors and will depend on earnings, operating and financial conditions, capital requirements, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board, including the applicable requirements of the Delaware General Corporation Law and the best interests of MercadoLibre, Inc.'s stockholders.