Wal-Mart pledges funds to earthquake relief in Chile

The retailer pledged $1 million to help Chile in the aftermath of an 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the South American country early Saturday morning.
Wal-Mart acquired a majority stake in Chile’s leading food retailer, Distribución y Servicio D&S S.A., in January 2009, according to walmartstores.com.

Source: Business Week

Wal-Mart looks to nine Latin American countries for faster growing markets and expansion opportunities

As U.S. sales stall, the largest retailer plans expansion in promising markets

Wal-Mart Inc. intends to open an office to oversee operations in Mexico, Brazil and seven other Latin American countries, according to Eduardo Solorzano, president and CEO of the region.
Brazil, along with some Asian countries, has the attention of Wal-Mart as a fast-growing market in the midst of stalled U.S. sales.
“The size of opportunity in Latin America is huge,” Solorzano said.
Wal-Mart plans to spend $1.2 billion opening new stores in Brazil this year, Solorzano said.
International sales account for a quarter of the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company’s revenue.

Source: Business Week


Hotel loyalty program expands priority program benefits to growing markets in Latin America


Source: The Wall Street Journal Market Watch

Coke bottling company could eventually mirror Latin American Coca-Cola bottling organization

Source: Financial Times

Two largest online travel companies look to Latin America for future growth

CEOs turn their attention to emerging Latin American Markets

Expedia Inc. and Priceline.com expect Latin American and Asian online booking increases to dramatically affect their businesses' growth strategies.
The CEOs of both companies spoke at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit and anticipated that international bookings increases would continue to outpace domestic bookings.
Expedia Inc. international bookings increased 38 percent, almost 20 percent more than domestic bookings increased, in the fourth quarter of 2009.
"Europe is a great market for us. And for us, the Asia-Pacific and Latin American markets are new emerging markets," Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia Inc. CEO, said.
Priceline.com experienced an 81 percent increase in international bookings. Domestic bookings increased 20.6 percent.

Source: Reuters

Miami-based mobile transactions company partners subsidiary with Latin America’s largest mobile messaging and transactions network

Source: CNNmoney.com

E-commerce and online auctions site MercadoLibre experiences 77 percent net income increase in the fourth quarter

Source: CNNmoney.com