Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Offers IVF Support, Promises $17 Billion Inheritance to Biological Children

Pavel Durov, a billionaire entrepreneur known for creating popular messaging app Telegram, has been willing to pay for IVF services for women who would like to use his sperm, in addition to stating that his children would get an equal share of his $17 billion fortune if they can provide a DNA link with him. This information came to light in an article in the Wall Street Journal. In July 2024, Durov, a 41-year-old tech entrepreneur born in Russia, announced that he had produced more than 100 biological kids with sperm donations in over 12 countries across the world. Durov has been carrying out sperm donations for around 10 years, with his initial aim of helping a friend conceive, after which donations took place in anonymity for Moscow's Altra Vita fertility clinic.

According to reports, in the summer of 2024, the clinic launched an unusual marketing campaign, touting Durov's "biomaterial" as having "high genetic compatibility" and offering free IVF for women under 37. A former doctor at the clinic told the WSJ that participants were required to be unmarried to avoid legal complications, and that interested women were "educated and very healthy." The clinic's website featured a banner with Durov's photo and the Telegram logo, promoting his "highly sought-after" sperm.

Durov announced during a French magazine interview that all his biological children would receive an equal share of the inheritance.

He explained on the Lex Fridman podcast in October 2024, "As long as they can prove their shared DNA with me, perhaps 30 years from now, they will have the right to a share of my estate after I'm gone."

Forbes estimated his net worth at $17 billion, although a large portion of this was tied to Telegram, which he planned to donate to a non-profit foundation. He also owned an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin purchased in 2013. According to Durov, after the inheritance announcement, he received a flood of messages from people claiming to be his children, who said they planned to open-source their DNA so that biological children could find each other.

The billionaire says the global sperm shortage inspired him to donate.
Durov presented his sperm donation as a way to solve the problem of male infertility and declining sperm counts worldwide. "The shortage of healthy sperm is becoming a serious problem worldwide, and I am proud to have contributed to reducing it," he wrote on Telegram in 2024.