Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, reveals he has 106 children to whom he will bequeath his fortune

Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram and co-founder of the company alongside his brother Nikolai, has disclosed in the French magazine 'Le Point' that he has 106 acknowledged children. Six of them were conceived naturally with three different women, while the remaining hundred are the result of sperm donations over 15 years. The creator of the messaging platform plans to distribute his wealth equally among all his descendants. According to 'Forbes', his fortune amounts to 17.1 billion dollars.

Durov has recounted that his first sperm donation was "to help a friend" who had fertility issues. He discovered from that experience the scarcity of healthy sperm and decided to contribute as much as he could to address it. Since then, more than a hundred couples have conceived children thanks to his donations. "I am proud to have done my part to alleviate the global shortage of healthy sperm," he wrote to his over 11 million followers on Telegram.

"I make no distinction between my children: there are those who were conceived naturally and those who come from my sperm donations," he told the French publication. "All my children will have the same rights," he specified. "I wrote my will very recently and decided that my children would not have access to my fortune until a period of 30 years has passed," he explained. "I want them to live as normal people, to learn to trust themselves, to be capable of creating, not to depend on a bank account," he added.