Hello everyone, I am Jacobo Cohen Imach, General Counsel of MercadoLibre, and I will act as Chairman and Secretary of this meeting. During the course of the meeting today, including during the question-and-answer sessions, representatives of the company may make statements that constitute forward-looking statements. These matters are subject to a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations.
Those factors are described in the risk factors section of the company's annual report, Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. The reconciliations of any non-GAAP measures are available on the investors' portion of our website. I will now turn the meeting over to Marcos for the welcoming remarks and management's commentary.
Hello everyone, and welcome to our annual shareholders' meeting. I am Marcos Galperin, CEO and Chairman of the Board. We appreciate your participation today. Before we begin the main proceedings of today's meeting, I would like to highlight the announcement we made in mid-May about the CEO transition. After 26 years leading the company as CEO, I have decided to transition to a new role as Executive Chairman, starting January 1, 2026.
This is therefore my last shareholder meeting as CEO before I hand over my responsibilities as CEO to Ariel Szarfsztejn. I will continue to be involved in many areas of MercadoLibre in my new role of Executive Chairman. I am absolutely convinced that Ariel is the right person to lead this new stage as CEO of the company.
He joined Meli in 2017 and started in strategy and new business, and then led the development of our logistics network throughout Latin America, and for the past three years has successfully led our marketplace. He possesses the ability, leadership, the team's trust, and crucially, the culture necessary to guide Meli for many years to come. I would like to thank our shareholders for the support they have shown to me over the last 26 years, and I am sure that Ariel will be able to count on the same level of support when he takes on the role of CEO.
Today, MercadoLibre is in its strongest position ever, operationally, financially, and strategically. For 26 years, we have had a laser focus on building the best value proposition for individuals and merchants across all areas of our business. More and more, people are choosing MercadoLibre and MercadoPago. With 105 million unique active buyers over the last 12 months and 64 million fintech monthly active users in Q1 2025, I am pleased that after so many years, our user base continues to grow at startup rates.
This is one indicator that shows we are on the right track to be the platform of choice for commerce and fintech in Latin America, and that the compounding of many years of investment is yielding great results. We are as optimistic as ever about the growth opportunities the region offers, and as always, we are committed to pursuing those opportunities in a sustainable manner, with innovation, entrepreneurship, and long-term focus at the forefront of our thinking. Believe me when I say, the best is yet to come. I'll now turn the call to our Chief Financial Officer, Martín de los Santos.
Thank you, Marcos. I would like to echo your warm welcome to our trusted shareholders and to thank you all for joining us today. MercadoLibre has had an outstanding year in 2024 and will have maintained that strong momentum into 2025. Over the last 12 months, our net revenues and financial income grew by 38%, even in the face of currency headwinds across the region.
This performance underscores the strength of our execution and the opportunities unlocked by our mission to democratize commerce and financial services in Latin America. We remain committed to sustainable growth by applying our growth-fit mindset, a disciplined approach that balances growth and profitability. This means we are willing to make strategic investments that might impact margins in the short term but are essential to building scale and long-term competitive advantage.
An example of this was the rollout of the MercadoPago Credit Card in 2024, which temporarily pressured our income from operations margins. However, we are confident that the credit card is a critical element in our path to becoming the leading financial service provider in Latin America. In fact, we have already seen encouraging results.
The combination of our strong technology and product stack in the digital account and the growth of our credit portfolio has driven consistent improvements in net promoter scores in Brazil and Mexico. It also contributed to the acceleration in monthly active fintech users that Marcos highlighted earlier. Our commerce business has also shown strong performance. We continue to invest in our logistics infrastructure to build the fastest network in Latin America.
In the last 12 months, we sold nearly 1.9 billion items, with almost 95% handled by our own managed network, and 75% of shipments were delivered within 48 hours. These improvements in logistics, together with a stronger user experience, broader selection, and more competitive pricing, led to unique buyers growing above 20% year on year at the fastest rate since Q1 2021. These results confirm that our investments are working and will enable us to capture the vast future growth opportunities ahead of us.
We pursue these opportunities with the advantage of a solid and flexible balance sheet and a business that generates strong profits and cash flow. I am especially proud that Fitch upgraded our credit rating to investment grade in Q3 2024, and over the past 12 months, MercadoLibre generated more than $1 billion in adjusted free cash flow. We have set a clear path for MercadoLibre over the coming years.
We will continue to focus on innovation and executing with excellence, with our users at the center of everything we do. We strongly believe the future is bright for MercadoLibre. We thank you again for your support and interest in the company. I will now turn the call back to our General Counsel, Jacobo Cohen Imach.
Mr. Anthony Carbone, a representative of Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., will act as the inspector of elections for this meeting. Mr. Carbideo has subscribed and filed a note of office for purposes of this meeting. Stockholders have been presented with an agenda and the rules of conduct for the annual meeting. To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that the participants abide by these rules.
As Secretary of the Meeting, I have been presented the following documents. First, the inspector of election informs me that a quorum necessary to convene the meeting is present. Second, an affidavit of Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. as to the distribution on or about April 28, 2025, of notice to the meeting and notice of internet availability of proxy materials to the company's stockholders of record as of the close of business on April 21st, 2025, the record date for the meeting.
Third, a certified list of the holders of common stock of the company as of the close of business on April 21st, 2025, the record date for determining stockholders entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. This list has been prepared by Computershare Inc., the company's transfer agent, and can also be accessed during the meeting by clicking on the registered shareholders list under the materials link. In consultation with the inspector of elections, I can confirm that this constitutes a quorum for purposes of the meeting today and declare that the quorum is present.
This meeting is now duly convened for the purposes of transacting business properly brought before it. We will now proceed with the business of this meeting. In addition to Mr. Martín de los Santos, who are in attendance today, we have also in attendance members of our board of directors, representatives from our outside counsel, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, and representatives from Ernst & Young, our independent auditing firm. In order to ensure the orderly conduct of the business of this meeting, we have adopted the order of business set forth in the agenda available via the web portal.
Stockholders may ask questions in the designated field on the web portal during the meeting's question and answer period. Out of consideration for others, please be brief, specific, and limit yourself to one question. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. However, no one attending via the webcast or telephone is permitted to use any audio recording device. Though we may not be able to answer every question, we will do our best to provide a response to as many as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.
The only formal items of business on the agenda for today's meeting are, one, to elect the nominees for Class 1 and Class 3 directors recommended by our board of directors to serve until the 2026 and 2028 annual meeting of stockholders, respectively, or until such time as the respective successors are elected and qualified, two, to approve on an advisory basis the compensation of our named executive officers for fiscal year 2024, and three, to ratify the appointment of Pistrelli, Henry Martin & Asociados S.A., a member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited, as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2025.
The company has not received notice from any of its stockholders as required under its bylaws or pursuant to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 of any other matter to be considered at this meeting, and therefore no other proposals may be properly introduced by stockholders at this meeting. Voting today is by proxy and electronic ballot. Each share of MercadoLibre common stock is entitled to one vote. I now declare the polls open for voting at this meeting.
Any stockholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Stockholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. The polls will close promptly following the presentation of today's proposals.
The first item of business on the agenda for this meeting is a proposal for the election of the nominees to serve on the board of directors of the company as Class 1 and Class 3 directors for a term of three years. The nominee to serve on the board of the company as Class 1, as described in the company's proxy statement dated April 28, 2025, is Stelleo Tolda, and the nominees to serve on the board of the company as Class 3 directors, as described in the company's proxy statement dated April 28, 2025, are Emiliano Calemzuk, Martín Lozan, and Marcos Galperin. No other director nominees have been proposed.
If you have any questions regarding the nominees, please submit them through the web portal, and we will do our best to address them during the question and answer session of the meeting. I now declare the nominations for elections of directors closed. Next on the agenda for this meeting is a proposal to approve on an advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers pursuant to the compensation disclosure rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This say-on-pay vote is advisory and is not binding on the board of directors, but the compensation committee will take into consideration the outcome of the vote when making future executive compensation decisions. If you have any questions regarding the advisory vote on executive compensation, please submit them through the web portal, and we will do our best to address them during the question and answer session of the meeting.
Next on the agenda for this meeting is a proposal to ratify the appointment of Pistrelli, Henry Martin & Asociados S.A., a member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited, as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025. If you have any questions regarding the ratification of the independent registered public accounting firm, please submit them through the web portal, and we will do our best to address them during the question and answer session of the meeting. The matters set forth in the notice of annual meeting to be voted on are now properly before this meeting.
We will now proceed with voting on the three proposals. For the election of directors, the persons receiving the highest number of votes for Class 1 and Class 3 directors will be elected Class 1 and Class 3 directors of the company, which is referred to in the company's proxy statement as approval by a plurality of the votes of the shares present in person, by means of remote communication, or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the matter. The affirmative vote of a majority of the shares present in person, by means of remote communication, or represented by proxy at the meeting and entitled to vote on the matter is necessary to approve on an advisory basis the company's executive compensation.
The affirmative vote of a majority of the shares present in person by means of remote communication, or represented by proxy at the meeting and entitled to vote on the matter is necessary to approve the ratification of the independent registered public accounting firm. At this point in time, I ask each stockholder who plans to vote during the meeting to vote now, if you have not already done so. If you submitted a proxy prior to the meeting, you don't need to do anything at this time unless you wish to change your vote. I now declare the polls closed.
Based on the preliminary tabulation submitted by the inspector, a plurality of the votes of the shares present in person by means of remote communication, or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the matter, have voted for the election of Stelleo Tolda as Class 1 director, and Emiliano Calemzuk, Martín Lozan, and Marcos Galperin as Class 3 directors. Consequently, Stelleo Tolda has been elected to the board to serve as Class 1 director until our 2026 annual meeting of stockholders, or until his respective successor is duly elected and qualified, or until his respective earlier death, resignation, or removal.
Emiliano Calemzuk, Martín Lozan, and Marcos Galperin have been elected to the board to serve as Class 3 directors until our 2028 annual meeting of stockholders, or until their respective successors are duly elected and qualified, or until their respective earlier deaths, resignations, or removal. Also, based on the preliminary tabulation submitted by the inspector, a majority of the shares present in person by means of remote communication, or represented by proxy at this meeting and entitled to vote on the matter, have voted to approve on an advisory basis the company's executive compensation.
Finally, on a preliminary tabulation submitted by the inspector, a majority of the shares present in person by means of remote communication, or by proxy and entitled to vote on the matter, have voted to approve the ratification of Pistrelli, Henry Martin & Asociados S.A., a member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited. A report of the exact voting will be filed with the records of the meeting. We now welcome any questions or comments you may have. We ask that you please observe the rules discussed earlier during this meeting.
I am aware of no other business that should be brought before this meeting, and accordingly, hereby I join the meeting. I would like to thank all of you for attending this annual meeting. I would also like to express my appreciation to all of the stockholders who submitted a proxy but were not able to attend. This concludes the 2025 annual meeting. Thank you all for your attendance this morning.
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.