Pavel Durov, Telegram’s elusive founder, discusses his rise, wealth and surviving a mysterious poisoning attempt (Photo: Instagram | @)
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, recently revealed having survived an assassination attempt after being poisoned in 2018 a secret that he has kept hidden for years. During his get together with Lex Fridman in a shaking interview, Durov opened up the terrible experience and how it has affected his life until today. It shows the dichotomy of the life of a tech dissenter living in a world where everything is constantly under surveillance.
Born in 1984 in St. Petersburg, Russia, Pavel Valeryevich Durov gained early acclaim as a digital visionary. He studied philology at Saint Petersburg State University and later co-founded VKontakte, Russia's largest social network but devotion to privacy and encryption followed a divergent road, leading him eventually to building Telegram. He is referred to as a digital libertarian ever-fighting man on the state that keeps insisting on individual freedom online.
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Durov opened up VK in 2006 with the brother, Nikolai and it became very popular followed by emerging in the event this year. He failed to provide the user data for the authorities in Russia and he was removed and left thereafter. In 2013, he and his brother gave birth to Telegram, a messaging app based on encryption, speed and minimal central control. Telegram snatched hundreds of millions of users over the continents, and it is turning into a major part of privacy focused communications.
It is estimated, according to Forbes, that his net worth as of mid-2025 stands at $17.1 billion and he was counted among the richest tech entrepreneurs in the world. Most of this wealth originates from his entire ownership of Telegram as a result, he became one of the few billionaire founders retaining complete control over the property. Durov's public image includes that of fritality and minimalism he is paid very little.
Though not originally from the UAE, Durov made Dubai his biggest tax scam and freedom haven, settling there in 2017 having citizenship in UAE and France, most of his operations are based in Dubai. Complete ownership of Telegram not only helps him keep the money and equity in his own right but also keeps them away from other investors. This model considerably helped him amass an enormous fortune without hurting himself with big equity partners.
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Durov has survived many storms in his life in the year 2024, for the charges linked to failure to combat illicit content on the Telegram platform, he was arrested in Paris. The debate around issues of platform responsibility and censorship has been sparked by the case.
He is also said to have cited the French intelligence agencies for trying to blackmail him into censoring the political content in his allegations against the said intelligence agencies. Prior to this, Durov left quite a stir with some personal disclosures, claiming to have more than 100 children born to him from sperm donations, pledging and really years later, parts of his fortune to them.
The latest interview goes on to say how in 2018 he came back into his rented townhouse only to find a suspicious little thing left at his door. He felt a very intense pain, lost his senses, and was scared for his life. There were days where he collapsed almost lifeless and stayed without moving as one by one, his body systems failed.
He has kept this a secret for years to protect the advancement of Telegram and not worry his team. Surviving the incident, he says, gave him a renewed perspective on life one where every day he feels as though he's been granted a gift.
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