Telegram boss Pavel Durov to leave $17 billion fortune to his 106 kids: 'They will all have the same rights'
Pavel Durov, the billionaire co-founder of Telegram, is planning to leave his fortune to his more than 100 children.
In an interview with French media outlet Le Point, the 40-year-old boss—who is worth around $17.1 billion (around PhP979 billion) as of June 2025—revealed his plan with his money after his death.
Durov has more than a hundred kids—six of whom he shares with three different partners as their "official father." According to him, the rest were from his sperm donations. "The clinic, where I started donating sperm fifteen years ago to help a friend, told me that more than 100 babies had been conceived this way in 12 countries," he said.
The businessman told Le Point that he wrote his will "very recently" and decided that his kids won't be able to get their inheritance "until a period of thirty years has elapsed."
"I want them to live like normal people, to build themselves up alone, to learn to trust themselves, to be able to create, not to be dependent on a bank account," he explained.
Durov stressed that he "makes no difference" between his kids.
"They are all my children and will all have the same rights! I don't want them to tear each other apart after my death," he continued.
Durov founded Telegram in 2013. The messaging platform, which has no limits on the size of content and chats, is one of the most downloaded apps in the world. It has over 1 billion active users so far.
When asked what will happen to Telegram when he dies, Durov revealed that a non-profit foundation will take charge. "My goal is to ensure the platform's continuity: I want it to continue existing independently, respectfully of privacy and freedom of expression."
