MercadoLibre investors certainly endured a turbulent year in 2018, with a number of events taking their collective pound of flesh from its profitability. In December 2017, MercadoLibre decided to deconsolidate its operations in Venezuela. In the company's 2017 fourth-quarter conference call, CFO Pedro Arnt explained this decision, stating, "We have determined that we no longer have full accounting control of our subsidiaries in that country as a result of Venezuela's recent selective default determination, of increasingly restrictive exchange controls, sanctions on government officials, and other operating restrictions that have hindered materially our ability to make key financial decisions for that market."