Pavel Durov: Net Worth, Diet, Children & Phone Avoidance

Most billionaires try to keep a low profile, but Pavel Durov has built his entire reputation on being unapologetically different. He’s the founder of Telegram, the messaging app with over a billion users, and yet he claims to avoid smartphones, eats a strict plant-based diet, and says he has fathered more than 100 children through sperm donation.

Net worth: $13 billion (Forbes 2023) ·
Age: 41 (born October 10, 1984) ·
Telegram users: 1+ billion monthly active ·
Citizenship: Russian, French

Six key facts about Durov, one pattern: his life is a study in contrasts — a tech billionaire who rejects the trappings of wealth.

The following table summarizes Durov’s key biographical details, drawing from multiple verified sources.

How did Pavel Durov get so rich?

Telegram’s revenue model

Durov’s fortune is tied almost entirely to Telegram, the messaging app he launched in 2013. Unlike many Silicon Valley peers, Telegram does not rely on advertising revenue. Instead, it introduced a subscription tier called Telegram Premium in 2022, and earlier raised funds through a private token sale in 2018 that brought in $1.7 billion (CBS News (established news outlet)). The app now claims over 1 billion monthly active users, giving Durov a valuation that consistently places him among the world’s richest people.

Sale of VKontakte

Before Telegram, Durov built VKontakte (VK), Russia’s largest social network, which he launched in 2006. He sold his remaining stake in 2014 after a dispute with the Kremlin over user data, reportedly walking away with about $300 million. That exit gave him both the capital and the motivation to build Telegram as a privacy-first alternative.

Durov’s net worth estimates

Forbes listed Durov at $13 billion in 2023. A more recent Bloomberg estimate in June 2025 put the figure closer to $13.9 billion. The variation reflects the private nature of Telegram’s valuation; Durov has never taken the company public, so his wealth is largely theoretical.

The implication: Durov’s wealth is real on paper, but its liquidity depends on decisions he has not yet made.

Does Durov have 100 children?

Origin of the 100 children claim

In a June 2025 interview with Tucker Carlson, Durov stated that he has “more than 100 children” and intends to leave his fortune to them. The claim was widely reported by outlets including CBS News and The Jerusalem Post. Many readers initially dismissed it as a parody or exaggeration, but Durov has repeated the statement in multiple interviews.

Durov’s known children

According to a separate interview with French magazine Le Point, Durov said he has six official children and more than 100 conceived through sperm donation across 12 countries since 2010 (The Jerusalem Post (major English-language Israeli newspaper)). The exact number of biological children remains disputed: some sources report six, others 100-plus including sperm-donation offspring. No independent verification of the total count exists.

Durov’s response to the rumor

Durov has not denied the figure. In fact, he has leaned into it, saying those children would inherit equally after reaching age 30. The claim may have originated from his own statements, but the lack of documentation has led some to treat it as a thought experiment around inheritance rather than a literal family tree.

The catch: without independent verification, the 100-children claim remains a self-reported curiosity rather than a documented fact.

Why does Pavel Durov not eat meat?

Durov’s dietary rules: no sugar, no fast food, no red meat, no pills

Durov has publicly stated that he avoids sugar, fast food, red meat, and pills. He also abstains from alcohol, coffee, tea, smoking, and recreational drugs. His diet is essentially plant-based, though he has not called himself a vegan or formal vegetarian in interviews.

Health and productivity motivations

Durov believes his dietary choices improve mental clarity and energy. He practices intermittent fasting and once tried a water-only fast for six days to boost creativity. He also does 300 push-ups and 300 squats every morning (CBS News (established news outlet)).

Public statements on diet

In an Instagram post, Durov wrote: “No sugar, no fast food, no red meat, no pills.” He has framed his lifestyle as a form of asceticism designed to maximize focus — a principle he also applies to his work at Telegram.

“No sugar, no fast food, no red meat, no pills.”

— Pavel Durov, via Instagram (reported by CBS News)

The pattern: Durov’s dietary discipline mirrors his approach to business — extreme control over inputs to optimize outputs.

Why doesn’t Pavel Durov use a phone?

Durov’s phone usage: he avoids using a smartphone for personal communication

Durov has said he does not use a smartphone for calls or texts. In a June 2025 interview, he claimed he had not used a phone for nearly a year. He may own a handset, but he uses it only to test Telegram app updates (EADaily (English-language Russian news outlet)).

Reasons: privacy, focus, avoiding distractions

Durov cites two reasons: privacy (phones are a surveillance vector) and focus (constant notifications break deep work). He has said that avoiding a phone gives him “the mental space to think clearly.”

How he manages Telegram without a phone

Durov runs Telegram entirely from a laptop using the desktop app. He communicates with his team through Telegram’s encrypted channels, and he relies on his deputies for any urgent calls. The absence of a phone, he says, has never been a problem for the company’s operations.

CBS News reported that Durov avoids carrying a phone because he finds it distracting and potentially harmful to privacy (CBS News (established news outlet)).

What this means: Durov has built a billion-user communication platform while personally opting out of the primary device used to access it — a paradox that reinforces his brand as a privacy absolutist.

Is Pavel Durov married or single?

Durov’s public statements on marriage

Durov has never been married and has publicly stated he is single. In interviews, he has described marriage as a “distraction” and said he prefers to focus on Telegram and his personal projects.

Relationship history

Little is known about Durov’s romantic relationships. He has fathered children with multiple partners, but he has never been publicly linked to a long-term partner or spouse. He keeps his private life out of the media as much as possible.

Speculation about family

The lack of a spouse, combined with the large number of children he claims, has fueled speculation that Durov practices a form of polyamory or simply uses sperm donation to build a family. Durov has not clarified the details, and no confirmed reports exist about his partners.

The pattern: Durov’s personal life remains as opaque as his business operations, with self-reported claims filling the gap left by independent verification.

Confirmed facts vs. unclear claims

The following table distinguishes what is independently verified from what remains unconfirmed about Durov’s life.

The picture of Pavel Durov that emerges is one of deliberate contradictions: a billionaire who owns no phone, a father of potentially 100+ children who has never married, a tech mogul who shuns advertising revenue. For anyone following the Telegram founder, the implication is clear: Durov’s legacy will be defined not by the wealth he has accumulated, but by the radical — and often unverifiable — choices he makes with it. For the tech industry, the choice is whether to treat his lifestyle as a model or a warning.

For a deeper look at his net worth and diet, another source verifies these claims in more detail from a Dutch fact-check site.

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