Telegram messaging app founder and CEO Pavel Durov will divide his multibillion-dollar fortune between his 100-plus kids, all but six of them conceived through sperm donation.
Durov is “official father” to six children with three partners, he told French magazine Le Point in an interview published Thursday. The others — at least 100 — have been born in the 15 years since he began donating sperm anonymously to a clinic “to help a friend,” and are now are spread across 12 countries.
“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 said. “They are all my children, and will all have the same rights!”
Durov, 40, worked all this out recently while drawing up his will. His net worth is estimated to fall somewhere between $13.9 billion and $17.1 billion, as calculated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes, respectively. Based on those estimates, each of his children would inherit between $131 million and $161 million if they were to get that money today.
However, no matter when he dies, they’ll have to wait until at least 2055 — 30 years from the day he gave the interview to Le Point.
“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,” the CEO said.
As for the French criminal charges currently hanging over him, Durov disavowed any responsibility for allegations that some of the platform’s 1 billion worldwide users are using it to disseminate child pornography, traffic drugs, launder money and participate in militant groups, among other illicit activities.
“Just because criminals use our messaging service, among many others, doesn’t make those who run it criminals,” he told Le Point.
Telegram is notoriously opaque, refusing to share information about its users, even when required by law, in keeping with Durov’s views on privacy.
With News Wire Services
