Compensation Plan for Outside Directors

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

11.

Compensation Plan for Outside Directors

The Company compensates its outside directors for their annual services provided through a cash payment, and from time to time through the issuance of equity awards, as follows:

On June 25, 2010, the board of directors of the Company (the “Board”), upon the recommendation of the Compensation Committee of the Board, adopted The MercadoLibre, Inc. 2010 Director Compensation Program (the “Plan”) for outside directors which was a three-year plan effective as from June 10, 2010. Under the terms of the Plan, each outside director received an annual fee for services provided to the Company for the periods from June 10, 2010 through June 9, 2011, from June 10, 2011 through June 9, 2012 and from June 10, 2012 through June 9, 2013, payable as follows: (a) a Non-Adjustable Board Service Award which means a fixed cash payment of $32,436, $37,703 and $43,826, respectively and (b) an Adjustable Award which means a fixed cash amount of $43,248, $50,271 and $58,435, respectively, multiplied by the average closing sale price of the Company’s share during the last 30-trading day period as of the date of the next Annual Meeting divided by the average closing sale price of the Company’s share during the last 30-trading day period as of the date of the prior year’s Annual Meeting. The Plan also included a Non-Adjustable Chairman Service Award for services provided to the Company for such periods. Under the terms of the Plan, the Chairman of the Company’s Audit Committee, of the Compensation Committee, of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the lead independent director of the Company are entitled to receive annual cash compensation in addition to the existing director compensation for the period from June 10, 2010 through June 9, 2011 amounting to $16,218, $12,974, $5,406 and $10,812, respectively. For the period from June 10, 2011 through June 9, 2012 such annual cash compensation amounted to $18,852, $15,081, $6,284 and $12,568, respectively. For the period from June 10, 2012 through June 9, 2013 such annual compensation amounted to $21,913, $17,531, $7,304 and $14,609, respectively.

On September 27, 2013, the Board, upon the recommendation of the compensation committee of the Board, adopted a new director compensation program (the “New Director Compensation Program”) that sets compensation for the Company’s outside directors for the period of June 2013 to June 2016. The New Director Compensation Program, which became effective as of June 2013, provides that each outside director of the Company receives an annual fee for Board services, comprised of a non-adjustable Board service award and an adjustable Board service award. The non-adjustable Board service award consists of a fixed cash payment of $50,000. The adjustable Board service award consists of a fixed cash amount of $70,000 multiplied by the quotient of (a) the average closing sale price of the Company’s share on the NASDAQ Global Market during the 30-trading day period preceding the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held during the respective compensation period divided by (b) the average closing sale price of the Company’s share on the NASDAQ Global Market during the 30-trading day period preceding the prior Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The New Director Compensation Program also includes a non-adjustable chair service award for committee services from June 2013 to June 2016. Under the terms of the New Director Compensation Program, the chair of each of the audit committee, the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee and the lead independent director are entitled to receive annual cash compensation in addition to existing director compensation in the amount of $21,913, $17,531, $7,304 and $14,609, respectively.

The following table summarizes the total accrued compensation cost related to outside Directors, included in operating expenses in the accompanying consolidated statement of income, for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012:


	Year ended December 31,
	2014		2013		2012
Chairman Fee	$	61,357	$	55,858	$	57,680
Adjustable Award		544,756		575,242		282,703
Non-adjustable Award		358,630		322,538		242,179

	$	964,743	$	953,638	$	582,562

- Definition

The entire disclosure for compensation costs, including compensated absences accruals, compensated absences liability, deferred compensation arrangements and income statement compensation items. Deferred compensation arrangements may include a description of an arrangement with an individual employee, which is generally an employment contract between the entity and a selected officer or key employee containing a promise by the employer to pay certain amounts at designated future dates, usually including a period after retirement, upon compliance with stipulated requirements. This type of arrangement is distinguished from broader based employee benefit plans as it is usually tailored to the employee. Disclosure also typically includes the amount of related compensation expense recognized during the reporting period, the number of shares (units) issued during the period under such arrangements, and the carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of the related liability.

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