How rich is the "boss" behind Telegram?

Telegram founder's huge fortune

Recently, the Department of Telecommunications ( Ministry of Science and Technology ) requested telecommunications service businesses to block the operation of the Telegram messaging application, because this application is increasingly being abused for illegal activities.

Previously, in August 2024, billionaire Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram application, was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget airport, France.

French authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the tech entrepreneur following a preliminary investigation. French authorities say Telegram’s lack of adequate censorship, encryption tools, and alleged lack of cooperation with police could expose Durov to charges of complicity in drug trafficking, pedophilia, and fraud.

Telegram ranks as one of the largest social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat. The platform aims to reach one billion users this year.

According to statistics compiled by Forbes, Pavel Durov is currently ranked 131st in the list of world billionaires with a net worth of up to 17.1 billion USD.

In 2022, he was recognized as the richest foreigner in the UAE, but still uses a phone worth less than 5 million VND. In February 2023, he continued to be honored by Arabian Business as the most powerful businessman in Dubai.

Despite his comfortable life in Dubai, Durov is said to be unwelcome elsewhere, especially in Europe, and has also avoided countries where Telegram is monitored by security forces.

According to the Financial Times - international business newspaper - messaging app Telegram recorded an impressive profit of 540 million USD in 2024.

Citing investor presentation documents seen by the Financial Times, the newspaper said Telegram’s revenue would soar to $1.4 billion in 2024, up from $343 million the year before. It would also be the Dubai-based company’s first profit, after a $173 million loss in 2023.

The positive financial results were announced to investors before Telegram issued bonds worth about $1.5 billion to restructure its debt, people familiar with the matter said.

The huge fortune of Telegram's founder (Photo: Forbes).

"Russia's Mark Zuckerberg"

Before he became known for Telegram, Pavel Durov was already known as the "Russian Mark Zuckerberg" for co-founding VKontakte, a social network similar to Facebook, at the age of 22.

And the results exceeded his expectations. Immediately after its launch, the social network Vkontakte quickly received the welcome of the Russian people. In less than a month after its launch, Pavel Durov had to change the server capacity to handle the exponential growth in the number of users.

However, he left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to close opposition communities on Vkontakte.

Before leaving Russia, Pavel Durov developed a secure messaging app called Telegram and launched it in 2013 without any official announcement to ensure security.

After launching Telegram, Pavel Durov spent more than $1 million per month to keep the messaging app running before it generated revenue.

This also contributed significantly to the remarkable development of Telegram. However, this application is also a major topic of controversy around the world when this messaging application becomes the main communication channel for criminals and hackers to exchange illegal services without any form of control.

Headquartered in Dubai, Telegram can escape much of the regulatory scrutiny and legal requirements. “In Dubai, the government doesn’t bother us,” Mr. Durov once told the Financial Times.

According to billionaire Pavel Durov, Telegram's success comes from the fact that this application is completely independent and not controlled by any government or organization. Even the Telegram team cannot control the content of secret chats.

Currently, all Telegram employees work all over the world and hardly know each other. The reason for this is that Pavel Durov does not want his company to get involved in any political or economic conflicts of any country in the world.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/ong-trum-dung-sau-telegram-giau-co-nao-20250524111823202.htm