Russian billionaire leaves £17 billion fortune to over 100 children
Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of messaging app Telegram, has announced plans to leave his estimated £17 billion fortune to more than 100 children he has fathered—both biologically and through sperm donation.
The 40-year-old tech mogul has six children with three different partners and is believed to have fathered around 100 more through sperm donations made to couples across 12 countries. In a recent interview with Le Point magazine, Durov explained that he considers all of them his children, regardless of how they were conceived.
“They are all my children and will all have the same rights,” Durov said. “I don’t want them to tear each other apart after my death.”
Durov first publicly acknowledged fathering children through sperm donation last year after a Russian woman, Irina Bolgar, claimed he was the father of her three children. In an interview with Russian Forbes, Bolgar, 44, said her daughter and two sons—born in 2013, 2016, and 2017 in St. Petersburg—carry Durov’s name. She also shared photos of herself with the children.
The revelation adds a highly personal dimension to the famously private billionaire, who is known for his libertarian views and aversion to state interference.
