Pavel Durov’s Net Worth Explained: Billionaire Behind Telegram and His Rocky Road With Regulators

Key Takeaways

• Pavel Durov is the owner of Telegram.
• In an interview in April, Durov said Telegram had received valuations north of $30 billion from potential investors.
• Over the years, Durov has often landed in hot water with courts and regulators.

Among billionaires, few have wealth that is more difficult to pin down than Pavel Durov. By most accounts, he is the sole owner of Telegram. However, as a 100% privately owned venture that has never sold equity, putting a price on the messaging app is difficult.

Bloomberg estimates  Durov’s net worth to be $9.18 billion. Meanwhile, Forbes places it  at $15.5 billion. But if his own lofty Telegram valuation is correct, it could be much more.

How Pavel Durov Became Rich

Before Telegram, Durov co-founded VKontakte (VK), a popular Russian social network that remains one of the most visited websites in the world.

In 2014, Durov sold his 12% stake in VK  to the media mogul Ivan Tavrin in a deal that reportedly valued the company at $3 billion to $4 billion.

After that, Durov used the hundreds of millions of dollars he raised from VK to develop and grow Telegram, which he created with his brother Nikolai Durov in 2013.

Although he may not have timed his exit from VK perfectly, the company is now worth much less than it was when Durov sold his shares. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, the firm’s market cap has dwindled to less than $0.5 billion today. Meanwhile, Telegram could potentially be worth tens of billions

Moreover, unlike VK, which was tied to the interests of the Russian state through the influence of oligarchs like Tavrin and Alisher Usmanov (a factor that contributed to Durov’s departure), Telegram soon emerged as a thorn in Moscow’s side.

Telegram as a Private Messaging Platform

With its focus on encryption and private messaging, Durov positioned Telegram as a tool to resist government surveillance and censorship. In 2018, it was briefly banned in Russia  for refusing to hand over encryption keys to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Although the ban was eventually lifted, the Russian government crackdown set the tone for Telegram’s combative approach to regulation ever since. This also inspired Durov to leave the country with a small team of developers.

Favoring jurisdictions with friendly tax laws and strong corporate secrecy protections, Telegram established a global network of shell companies to help it avoid government subpoenas that might threaten users’ privacy.

While the strategy has helped Telegram dodge some of the compliance burden its peers are subject to, it hasn’t always worked.

Challenges and Controversies

Over the years, more than a dozen countries have taken legal action against Telegram, penalizing it for non-compliance, banning the app, or otherwise restricting access.

Although the specifics of each case vary, a key theme runs through most of the charges leveled against it: Telegram does not do enough to help law enforcement stamp out illegal activity on the platform.

With courts and regulators ramping up the pressure, Telegram’s offshore structure and guarded secrecy can’t keep them at bay forever, as Durov’s indictment in France earlier this year demonstrated.

Although the platform has now watered down its commitment not to hand user data over to authorities, this has damaged its reputation for privacy.

Whether this will have a detrimental impact on user numbers isn’t clear. For years, private messaging was one of Telegram’s biggest selling points, helping it amass hundreds of millions of users and making it one of the most popular and potentially valuable apps in the world.

Putting a Price on Telegram

While Durov initially funded Telegram with money he got from VK, the company has had to raise additional capital via three bond sales since.

Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission eventually forced  Telegram to return $1.2 billion to investors, Telegram also raised $1.7 billion from the 2018 Toncoin Initial Coin Offering.

The most recent $330 million issuance of bonds will mature in 2026, or when Telegram goes public.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Durov confirmed that he was considering an initial public offering . Hinting at a potential target range for the company, he said Telegram had received valuations north of $30 billion from potential investors.

While that figure might not hold water, if it’s correct, Durov’s personal fortune could grow significantly in the years ahead.

Durov’s Other Wealth Sources

Durov owns other assets in addition to Telegram, from which he doesn’t draw a salary.

During an interview  with Tucker Carlson in April, he said he holds “a few hundred million dollars” in fiat currency and Bitcoin (BTC). However, he insisted he lived a relatively modest lifestyle and had no interest in the typical billionaire trappings of real estate, jets, or yachts.

In Durov’s Own Words

“For me, it was never about becoming rich. Everything in my life was about becoming free. To the extent that is possible, my mission in life is to allow other people to become free.”

“You cannot make it safe  against criminals and open for governments. It’s either secure or not secure.”

“Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third-parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach.”