Meet Pavel Durov – the Billionaire Founder and CEO of Telegram

Pavel Durov (38), is the founder and owner Telegram’s messaging app. The billionaire has been nicknamed the “Mark Zuckerberg in Russia.”

Durov, who was raised in St. Petersburg, Soviet Russia has a net worth $15.1 billion. per Forbes.

The tech entrepreneur cofoundedTelegram, encrypted-messaging system Telegram, was created by Nikolai and his brother in 2013. The brothers were born into a family full of intellectuals. according the Digital-Life-Design Conference website. Durov spokeThe conference was held in January 2012.

Telegram has been a major source of Durov’s wealth. 700 millionActive users and is valuedAt $30 billion

Insider asked Durov for comment but he did not respond.

Before founding Telegram Durov started Vkontakte, a Russian social networking site. The site brought him fame and money — but it also made him a target of the Kremlin.

Pavel Durov (@durov), shared the following post

Durov was the original founder of the network and continued to manage it. sell$300 million was spent in 2015 on a 12% share of the company

He was a celebrity because of the site. per The New York Times.It also brought political problems, such as when Durov refused to allow the Kremlin access Vkontakte data from Ukrainian protest leaders.

Durov claimed he was fired from his position of CEO of Vkontakte in April 2014 after state-backed entities tried to take control over the network. per Reuters.Mail.Ru, which is ownedAlisher Usmanov, an oligarch, purchased the network for $1.47 Billion later that year.

Insider was informed by Usmanov’s media service that Vkontakte had been sold to the group in December. The network is now ownedSogaz, the state-run insurer

Durov stated to the Times that he had to leave Moscow after a SWAT team arrived at his house in 2014.

Vkontakte didn’t bring an end to Durov’s disputes with the Kremlin.

Telegram was established in 2018. bannedAfter Durov denied the Kremlin access, protestors in Russia reacted by denying Durov access to user data. Hundreds protested the ban, some holding signs depicting Durov as a saint (pictured below). The app was reinstated in Russia two years later.

Telegram plays a major role in today’s world. roleIn the war in Ukraine.

Durov made a Telegram vow postMarch to protect data of Ukrainian users. According to the post Durov is partially Ukrainian.

“When I defied the odds” [the Kremlin’s]Durov wrote in the blog post that demands were important and the stakes were very high for him personally. “I stand for our users, no matter what.” He added that their privacy is sacred.

On a November 30 post on TelegramDurov announced that Telegram plans on building a cryptocurrency wallet. Durov said that Fragment, a wallet for cryptocurrency, was completed in 5 weeks by 5 people, which included me.

Durov claimsFragment sold usernames worth $50 million in less than a month.

Durov currently resides in Dubai, where Telegram’s operations is based.

Durov relocated Telegram’s operations from Moscow to Dubai’s Media City in 2017. per Bloomberg. The network had previously been basedBerlin

In interview with Bloomberg in December 2017, Durov said moving to Dubai afforded him “better ways to use [his]”Money to benefit society”, as the city has done no personal income tax.

According to the Russian edition of ForbesDurov received citizenship in February from the United Arab Emirates. Forbes reports that Durov is a citizen in four countries.

Durov wrote the following January 2018 TwitterTelegram is “unlikely” to consider any location. [its]Permanent base

Durov was made a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis by investing $250,000 into the local sugar industry in 2014. according to The Moscow Times. The Caribbean nation has no income or inheritance taxAs well as capital gains tax.

Durov was also naturalized in August 2021 as a French citizen according to France’s government website.

According to Khaleej Times reports, Durov is one of the most wealthy people in the United Arab Emirates.

Pavel Durov (@durov), shared the following post

Durov is the youngest self-made billionaire from the Middle East. per the Khaleej Times.

Durov has over 785,000 Instagram followers. His posts include photos of his Dubai lifestyle and shirtless snaps that show off his physique.

Pavel Durov (@durov), shared the following post

In August 2017, Durov’s Instagram parody of Russian President Vladimir Putin went viral.

Durov’s Instagram post, appropriately titled the “Putin Shirtless Challenge,” asked users to upload photos of themselves naked in the challenge. stylePutin

“Two rules from Putin – no photoshop, no pumping. Durov wrote in the postAugust 2017. Over 3,000 posts Instagram photos featuring Durov’s hashtag. To date, it’s gotten over 120,000 likes.

Durov, despite having 1.3 million Twitter followers, doesn’t follow anyone. However, he once followed Elon Musk.

Although not much is known about Durov’s assets, he has been known for sharing photos of yachts on Instagram.

Pavel Durov (@durov), shared the following post

He shared a photo of himself from the deck on a Lurssen yacht off Italy’s Coast in 2016.

The cost of a Lurssen yacht starts at around $1 million and can run as high as $185 million, per Yacht World.Durov never confirmed that he owned the Lurssen yacht he sailed in.

Durov stated this in an Instagram postLurssen’s sailing vessel was his favorite, and he admitted to August 2016 that he wasn’t a big fan of the giant Lurssen yachts. Lurssen currently has oneThis is a 21st-century sailing yacht.

Durov has posted another photoInstagram photo of a superyacht in 2015.

In a March 18 post on his official Telegram accountDurov claimed that he doesn’t own any private jets.

Bloomberg reports that Durov’s profile once appeared on Tinder in 2017.

Pavel Durov (@durov), shared the following post

Bloomberg reportedDurov was “half-naked,” according to his profile photo on the dating app.

According to the publication, he wrote that he was not looking for anything serious or non-serious. He also said that he was just playing with the app.

Durov was once married with Daria Bondarenko who he met at university. according to Russia BeyondCiting a documentaryRodion Chepel, filmmaker, discusses Durov.

Durov, in a 2020 blog post, criticized Silicon Valley, stating that the region has “limited culture life.”

Durov wrote this post in response Yury Dud (journalist and YouTuber). filmSilicon Valley. The film has been viewed 45 million times on YouTube.

The postDurov listed seven reasons why he didn’t want to move to Silicon Valley.

Durov wrote, “The US is not a great place to live or operate an IT business.” “Local programmers can be expensive, spoiled, or unable to concentrate on work due the constant flow and ideas from outside,” Durov added. 

Durov also described the US “police state” and said that he was attackedIn San Francisco, June 2015, thieves stole his phone.