Remember when Telegram became the go-to app for privacy-conscious users during the WhatsApp backlash in 2021? Its elusive founder, Pavel Durov, has now found a new reason to make headlines and it has nothing to do with messaging or encryption. In a recent interview with French magazine, Le Point, Durov revealed that he plans to distribute his $13.9 billion fortune to his children. The twist? He claims to have fathered over 100 of them.
“I want to specify that I make no difference between my children: there are those who were conceived naturally and those who come from my sperm donations,” Durov said. “They are all my children and will all have the same rights.”
The 40-year-old tech billionaire, often dubbed the “Russian Mark Zuckerberg,” has lived a life of relative secrecy. And much like another infamous tech billionaire-serial father Elon Musk, Durov seems to be on a mission to reshape fatherhood.
The internet is having a ball with this news as X and Reddit flood with funny comments. “Telegram has a mindset of abundance,” said one. “Please DM whenever you are ready. I love you, dad,” was one hilarious response. Another comment read, “WW3 will be fought between the offsprings of Elon Musk and Pavel Durov.” One more said, “New passive income hack unlocked.” Others said, “Musk needs to up his game”, “Wild is right. Modern day Genghis Khans trying to spread their genes across the world. But hey why not. It’s a form of legacy”, “Fortune 100 got a whole new meaning.”
{{/usCountry}}The internet is having a ball with this news as X and Reddit flood with funny comments. “Telegram has a mindset of abundance,” said one. “Please DM whenever you are ready. I love you, dad,” was one hilarious response. Another comment read, “WW3 will be fought between the offsprings of Elon Musk and Pavel Durov.” One more said, “New passive income hack unlocked.” Others said, “Musk needs to up his game”, “Wild is right. Modern day Genghis Khans trying to spread their genes across the world. But hey why not. It’s a form of legacy”, “Fortune 100 got a whole new meaning.”
{{/usCountry}}Who are his 100 kids?
According to a Telegram post he made in July last year, the path to his unique legacy began over 15 years ago when a friend asked him to donate sperm so he and his wife could start a family. Since then, Durov said, he has “helped over a hundred couples in 12 countries to have kids,” adding that “at least one IVF clinic still has my frozen sperm available for anonymous use by families who want to have kids.”
Despite never marrying and preferring to live alone, Durov seems to take fatherhood seriously, if unconventionally. “I wrote my will very recently,” he shared in the interview. “I decided that my children would not have access to my fortune until a period of thirty years has elapsed, starting from today.”