Telegram CEO Pavel Durov reveals plans to pass down multi-billion-dollar fortune to 100-plus kids

Amy Lee
The Nightly
Telegram owner and Russian billionaire Pavel Durov has fathered more than 100 children.
Telegram owner and Russian billionaire Pavel Durov has fathered more than 100 children. Credit: Instagram

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram has revealed who will inherit his multi-billion-dollar fortune.

Mr Durov recently drafted his will, making provision for over 100 children — but they won’t get a cent for another 30 years, he revealed in an interview with French magazine Le Point.

The app founder is worth $13.9 billion (AUD$21.4b), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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“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 told the publication.

Mr Durov, 40, added that he has six children who were conceived naturally with three different partners, along with at least another 100 children he has fathered through sperm donations.

“The clinic, where I started donating sperm 15 years ago to help a friend, told me that more than 100 babies had been conceived this way in 12 countries,” he said.

Given his current net worth and an estimated 106 children, each child would stand to inherit approximately $131 million.

“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,” he told the publication.

“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.”

Mr Durov is not the only tech billionaire to have fathered a surprising number of children.

Tesla founder and billionaire, Elon Musk, is also an enthusiastic advocate of spreading his genes, welcoming 14 children with four different women since 2002.

Elon Musk has 14 children with four different women.
Elon Musk has 14 children with four different women. Credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Over the years, he has been vocal about his desire to have more children to increase the birth rate.

In 2021, he claimed that there are “not enough people” in the world, expressing concern for civilisation if people don’t have large families.

“I think one of the biggest risks to civilisation is the low birth rate,” the Tesla CEO said at an event hosted by the Wall Street Journal.

“Please look at the numbers. If people don’t have more children, civilisation is going to crumble, mark my words.”

It is not yet known how Musk will divide his fortune.

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