Pavel Valeryevich Durov is a well-known technology entrepreneur. He is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Telegram. Currently detained in France, the businessman has had one rollercoaster of a ride. He was born on October 10, 1984, and hails from Beningard, Soviet Union (now Russia).
However, the businessman had to leave the country in 2014. Pavel Durov’s journey from being an aspiring technology entrepreneur to one of the richest men in the world has truly been commendable. So, let’s take a look at his journey of becoming the CEO of one of the largest technology platforms.
Pavel Durov’s early days as an entrepreneur
Pavel Durov was born into the family of Valery Durov, a Doctor of Philological Sciences and a professor of philology. He has an older brother, Nikolai Durov. Pavel studied English and translation at the Petersburg State University between 2002 and 2006. It was during his time at the university when Pavel found his love for technology and created the popular forum, ‘spbgu.ru’. However, it was in 2006 when his former classmate, Vyacheslav Mirilashivili, showed him the popular site, Facebook. The idea clicked, and Pavel and his friend created a new social network site with an Israeli classmate, Lev Binzumovich Leviev.
Soon enough, the project attracted his brother, Niolai, who was a genius in math and programming competitions. In September 2006, the beta version of the site, VKontakte (VK), was launched. By October 2006, they had registered the domain name ‘VKontakte.ru’, and in January 2007, they were incorporated as a Russian private limited company. By 2008, it reached a value of 3 billion US dollars. However, in 2011, the government started to pressurise them to remove the opposition political party’s pages. In 2014, Pavel was dismissed as the CEO of VK after he refused to be pressured by the government and didn’t get along with the new management of his company. He left the country soon after.
Pavel Durov and the founding of Telegram
After leaving Russia, Pavel Durov moved to Saint Kitts and Nevis. He got their citizenship by donating 250k US dollars to the country’s Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation and secured 300 million US dollars in cash within Swiss banks. He later focused on creating his next company, Telegram, with headquarters initially in Berlin, which was later moved to Dubai. In 2018, Durov announced that he was monetising the growing success of Telegram and launching the ‘Gram’ cryptocurrency and the Telegram Open Network (TON).
Pavel raised over 1.7 billion US dollars for the same, but was halted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2018, Russia further attempted to block the app. A leaked letter revealed that the FSS was blocking the site because of the company’s intention to launch TON. However, the block was lifted in 2020. After running Telegram for a total of 6 years, the company became profitable for the first time in 2024 with a total revenue of over 1 billion US dollars.
Legal charges against Pavel Durov
While the company’s future started to look bright, Pavel’s own future became a point of concern. In August 2024, he was arrested at the Le Bourget Airport by France’s anti-fraud office. He was arrested in relation to 12 suspected crimes on Telegram, six of which were later formalised by the court. Pavel was later released on bail of 6 million euros and was banned from leaving the country with the obligation to report to the police twice a week. One of the charges against Pavel carries a maximum penalty of 500k euros and imprisonment of 10 years. It is to be noted that Pavel was previously avoidant of travelling to Europe due to potential legal risk.
Pavel Durov has 106 children
Pavel Durov has a total of 106 children. He shared two children with his ex-wife, Daria Bondarenko. It was in July 2024 when Irina Bolgar reached out to Forbes and revealed that she had mothered three of Pavel’s children. The authenticity of the documents was confirmed by the publication. Irina has filed a lawsuit against Pavel in Switzerland for abusing her youngest son five times. It is believed that she filed the case several months after Pavel stopped paying child support of 150k euros per month. Pavel claimed he has fathered over 100 children via sperm donation in more than 12 countries.
Pavel Durov’s net worth and its division between his 106 kids
Pavel Durov has a net worth of 17 billion US dollars from his businesses, making him the 120th richest person in the world, according to Forbes. The businessman recently revealed that his wealth will be equally divided between all his children, irrespective of how they were conceived. It was in 2025 when Pavel shared that he had written his will, and his children won’t receive anything or have access to his wealth until a period of thirty years, which will end in 2055.
Pavel Durov has truly had a journey as an entrepreneur. What are your thoughts on him? Let us know.
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