Pavel Durov, the founder of instant messaging app Telegram, has been in the limelight lately. The tech billionaire has offered free IVF treatments for women willing to utilise his donated sperm for the procedure, but that's not it; he has also promised their children a fortune of $17 billion dollars in equal shares, the only condition being that they will have to provide DNA proof of the children's connection with him, according to the Wall Street Journal.
What you may find interesting is that the tech billionaire is already a biological father to 100 children across at least 12 countries by means of sperm donation, as Pavel Durov revealed in 2024.
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Durov reportedly began donating sperm around 2010 — first to help a friend conceive, then later through anonymous donations at Moscow’s AltraVita fertility clinic. By mid-2024, the clinic had rolled out a striking promotional campaign highlighting Durov’s “biomaterial”, describing it as having “high genetic compatibility” and offering free IVF to women under 37. A former doctor from the clinic told the WSJ that applicants were required to be unmarried to avoid legal issues, adding that most of the women were “well-educated and very healthy.” The clinic’s website even carried a banner with Durov’s photograph beside the Telegram logo, promoting his “in-demand” sperm.
More than 100 children could potentially inherit Durov’s wealth under what was described as a DNA-verified inheritance plan. In an interview with a French magazine, Durov said all of his biological children would receive equal shares.
“As long as they can establish their shared DNA with me, someday, maybe in 30 years from now, they will be entitled to a share of my estate after I'm gone,” he said on the Lex Fridman podcast in October 2024. Forbes estimated his fortune at $17 billion, most of it linked to Telegram—which he intended to transfer to a nonprofit foundation—along with an unspecified amount of Bitcoin purchased in 2013. After the inheritance announcement, Durov said he received a rush of messages from people claiming to be his children and added that he planned to open-source his DNA so biological children could connect with one another.
Durov framed his sperm donations as a response to global concerns over male infertility and falling sperm counts. “The shortage of healthy sperm has become an increasingly serious issue worldwide, and I'm proud that I did my part to help alleviate it,” he wrote on Telegram in 2024.
The revelation sparked humorous comparisons to Elon Musk, who has at least 14 children. Musk reacted on X with “‘Rookie numbers lmao’—Genghis Khan,” a nod to research suggesting millions may descend from the Mongol ruler. Durov replied with a “StarCraft” meme reading “SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS.”