Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, a messaging app, has fathered more than 100 children, all of whom will share in the inheritance of his multi-billion-dollar fortune, he told French magazine Le Point in a wide-ranging interview published Thursday.
Durov, who told the magazine that he recently drafted his will, said that his children will inherit his fortune, but not for 30 years from today. He is worth $13.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Durov didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from CBS MoneyWatch.
“I want them to live like normal people, to build themselves up alone, to learn to trust themselves, to be able to create, not to be dependent on a bank account,” he told the publication.
Durov, who is 40, added that he has six children who were conceived naturally with three different partners, plus at least another 100, whom he’s fathered through sperm donations.
“The clinic, where I started donating sperm 15 years ago to help a friend, told me that more than 100 babies had been conceived this way in 12 countries,” he told Le Point.
Durov made clear that his children “will all have the same rights.”
Based on his current net worth and assuming he has 106 children, each of his offspring would inherit about $131 million.
“I don’t want them to tear each other apart after my death,” he said in the interview.
Durov added in the interview that he follows a rigorous daily workout regimen that includes 300 push-ups followed by 300 squats. He said he doesn’t consume alcohol, coffee or tea, avoids sugar and is not a smoker.
French authorities have charged Durov, alleging Telegram is used for criminal purposes, including the propagation of child sexual abuse material and for drug trafficking. Durov has denied the charges.
He told Le Point that he believes the charges are “absurd.”
“Just because criminals use our messaging service among many others doesn’t make those who run it criminals,” he told the magazine.
