Pavel Durov is a billionaire social media mogul who does not possess the usual luxuries of wealth that he could easily afford.
The 39-year-old, whose fortune is estimated at £12bn, boasts of not having any large personal assets.
Despite living in the billionaire’s paradise of Dubai, he revealed in a rare television interview earlier this year that he owned no house, land, yacht or private jet.
“I don’t think this lifestyle is for me,” she told US presenter Tucker Carlson, adding: “My number one priority in life is my freedom.”
Durov said he is focusing all his energy on Telegram, the social media platform with 950 million users that he founded in 2013 with his “genius” brother Nikolai.
Born in Russia, Durov spent many years of his childhood in Italy before returning to his homeland when his father, a scholar of ancient Roman literature, took a new job at the University of St. Petersburg.
Pavel Durov (pictured) is a billionaire social media mogul who doesn’t have the usual luxuries of wealth that he could easily afford.
Irina Bolgar, 44 (pictured, centre), a Russian woman living in Switzerland, claimed that he was the father of her daughter and two sons born in 2013, 2016 and 2017.
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov delivers his keynote address during the second day of Mobile World Congress at the Fira Gran Via complex in Barcelona, Spain, on February 23, 2016
Both brothers mastered computer code and programming from an early age and Durov created VK, dubbed the “Facebook of Russia”, when he left university at 21.
It quickly became the largest social media company in Russia and the former Soviet countries, but soon ran into conflict with the authorities.
When he refused to provide data on Ukrainian protesters to Russian security agencies, he was forced to leave his company and move abroad in 2014.
Durov said the absence of any secure form of communication in Russia gave him the idea for Telegram. His brother created Telegram’s encryption system and the rest is history.
The Russian businessman said he abandoned attempts to settle in Berlin, London and San Francisco due to “bureaucratic obstacles” and ended up living in Dubai.
He now has dual French and Emirati citizenship and remains the sole owner of Telegram.
People walk past paper airplanes referencing the logo of messaging app Telegram, which were placed during a rally in support of freedom of speech following the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, near the French embassy in Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2024.
Activist Vladislav Mazur takes part in a one-man picket to protest against the arrest of Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, near the French embassy in Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2024.
Durov also appears to have an equally colorful personal life.
He has posed for photographs to show off his muscular physique, but despite his good looks and status, he is believed to be single.
Interestingly, Durov recently claimed in a Telegram post to be the father of over 100 children around the world after becoming a sperm donor.
It is known that he had a daughter and a son with his ex-partner Daria Bondarenko, now resident in Barcelona.
And recently Irina Bolgar, 44, a Russian woman living in Switzerland, claimed that he was the father of her daughter and two sons born in 2013, 2016 and 2017, insisting they were “conceived and born naturally”.
