Surpassing Elon Musk, a tech billionaire donates sperm to have over 100 children, giving each $170 million.

Explosive! Who would have thought that in 2025, we'd still see such news - there are actually over 100 children around the world with the same father.

When it comes to such a crazy act, many people would immediately think of Elon Musk. However, the truth is that it's a wealthy man from Dubai - Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram (a encrypted social platform, also known as "Telegram").

Durov is extremely wealthy. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth reaches $13.9 billion. According to The Daily Telegraph, Durov revealed in an interview that he clearly stated in his will that each child would receive $170 million.

Durov's life is truly legendary, even more crazy than Elon Musk.

He built a social empire single - handedly, and his net worth once reached £17 billion. In terms of reproduction, he has six children with three partners. However, this seemingly can't satisfy his enthusiasm for "creating people" at all. So, he anonymously donated sperm for 15 years, "sowing seeds" around the world, and finally fathered over 100 children.

This is really quite different from the scenarios of wealthy family inheritances in our traditional perception. We usually think that wealthy family inheritances involve a series of fierce disputes such as multiple rounds of examinations, in - house legal battles, and DNA - related competitions.

But Durov said, "All my children, regardless of their origins, have equal status."

This educational concept is calm and geeky, even exuding a rational atmosphere like that of a laboratory. It seems that he isn't simply "creating people", but rather conducting a "family experiment" distributed in multiple locations around the world.

15 years of sperm donation, over 100 children in 12 countries

In the middle of last year, an astonishing piece of news caused a stir on the Internet: Irina Bolgar, a Russian woman living in Switzerland, revealed that her three children were all conceived through Durov's sperm donation. A daughter and two sons were born in St. Petersburg in 2013, 2016, and 2017 respectively, and they all bear Durov's surname.

Irina Bolgar

As soon as the news came out, the Internet was in an uproar. Just when everyone was speculating about its authenticity, Durov directly made it public and disclosed astonishing information: he had been donating sperm for 15 years and has over 100 children in 12 countries.

Durov also told the whole story of this matter. Initially, he donated sperm at the request of a friend who was unable to have children, helping the couple conceive. At first, he just regarded it as a joke and half - heartedly helped with this matter.

Later, when he learned about the global shortage of "high - quality healthy sperm", he decided to make a contribution in person. So, he began to anonymously donate sperm around the world, and this lasted for 15 years.

Durov emphasized, "Of course, there are risks in sperm donation, but I don't regret being a donor. The shortage of healthy sperm has long become an increasingly serious global problem, and I'm proud that I can do my bit to alleviate this problem."

Different from other wealthy people who are very cautious about children, Durov believes that his genes must be passed on. He has made a lot of efforts to become a provider of "high - quality healthy sperm".

First of all, he loves sports and keeps in good shape. He once posted semi - naked fitness photos to 11.1 million subscribers via Telegram and insists on doing 300 push - ups and 300 squats every day. In addition, he has the habit of winter swimming. He once suggested that people should go swimming in the ice - cold water in Finland or Switzerland if they have the chance, saying that it can not only strengthen willpower but also reduce procrastination. If he is really too busy, he will soak himself in ice - cold water.

Secondly, Durov made public his strict daily schedule, especially regarding sleep. He deeply understands the importance of sleep, believing that sleep can enhance immunity, creativity, and psychological perception. He also pointed out that many people don't sleep on weekdays and try to catch up on sleep on weekends, which actually has the opposite effect. "Sleep is the time for self - repair, and I'll ensure 8 hours of sleep."

Moreover, Durov pays attention to a healthy diet and avoids overeating. He said that overeating is a cause of accelerated aging and can also lead to dozens of diseases. He only eats two meals a day, and within 6 hours. He gradually strengthens his diet control, insists on not touching alcohol, coffee, and tea, and doesn't eat meat either.

He once said, "Most farmed meat is toxic because the animals are fed with poor - quality feed and growth hormones during the growth process. So, I only eat fish." A year ago, he started to avoid gluten, dairy products, eggs, and fructose.

Recently, he has even gone to a more extreme attempt - complete fasting, only drinking water. He said that "zero food intake can improve mental clarity, and he has also completed a lot of work in product management."

However, he advised others not to blindly follow suit, as there is currently no literature to prove that his fasting method can improve creativity. The UK's National Health Service (NHS) also warned that even intermittent fasting can bring many health risks, such as heartburn, and may also lead to eating disorders.

According to an interview in the French magazine Le Point, Durov plans to leave his huge fortune to these over 100 children. He clearly stated, "I want to make it clear that I treat all my children equally: some were conceived naturally, and some were born through my sperm donation. They are all my children and will have equal rights."

After this incident was exposed, many media jokingly called Durov "the Russian Elon Musk", as he, like Musk, is keen on sperm donation and having children. Durov previously revealed, "Years after I stopped donating, at least one IVF clinic still keeps my frozen sperm for anonymous use by families who want to have children..."

It's really hard to imagine how many "heirs" there will be on the day when Durov's property is actually distributed.

However, he also said that he doesn't want his children to use his property within 30 years.

"I hope they live like ordinary people, shape themselves independently, learn to trust each other, be creative, and not rely on their bank accounts to live."

The "mysterious weirdo" in the eyes of The Guardian

The Guardian once described Durov like this: "He is a man who is capricious, mysterious, rarely gives interviews, doesn't like to wear proper clothes, and likes to write some puzzling little articles."

"He always wears black clothes and has a cold expression, as if he thinks he is Keanu Reeves in The Matrix."

Durov was born in Russia in 1984. His father is a famous linguistics professor, proficient in seven languages: Italian, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Latin, and English. Influenced by such a strong academic atmosphere, Durov was a wealthy and intelligent student since childhood. He won many Olympic competition awards and also received a Russian government scholarship.

At the age of 21, just after graduating from university, Durov founded the social platform VK, known as the "Russian Facebook", with his classmates. In just two years, the market value of this company exceeded $3 billion, and its development speed was amazing.

In 2013, Durov once again demonstrated his extraordinary creativity by creating the globally popular encrypted cross - platform instant messaging software Telegram, which is well - known as "Telegram".

This software has powerful functions. Users can not only exchange messages, share media and files through it but also create large public groups of up to 200,000 members. As of last September, Telegram had over 950 million monthly active users, becoming one of the top 5 most - downloaded apps globally.

Thanks to the success of Telegram, Durov ranked 8th on the list of Russian billionaires in 2021 with a net worth of $17 billion. In the same year, he joined the French nationality and later obtained UAE citizenship. Last year, he ranked 120th on the global rich list with a personal asset of $17.1 billion.

On the surface, Durov is an ascetic and icy - cool tech god, but in reality, his way of doing things is strange and rebellious. He once directly threw hundred - dollar bills downstairs, causing passers - by to scramble for them. He also dared to openly oppose the government and even gave up his company. In 2014, he suddenly resigned from the position of CEO of VK, and his resignation letter only had one line: "Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish."

Durov once admitted, "For me, life has never been about getting rich. Everything in my life is about gaining freedom." "I don't want to take orders from anyone."

He really has the capital to be willful, but it's almost impossible to have "absolute freedom" in this world.

Just last year, a dramatic scene occurred. Durov was arrested by the French police on multiple charges. The French prosecution accused Durov of failing to properly manage the platform and assist in curbing crime.

The reason is that Telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 members to be created. This feature makes critics believe that it makes it easier for misinformation to spread, and users are more likely to share conspiracy theories, neo - Nazism, pedophilia, or terrorism - related content.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) pointed out that due to its end - to - end encryption and anonymity mechanism, the Telegram platform is widely used for illegal activities, including drug trafficking, fraud, telecommunications crimes, and the spread of content by extremist organizations.

In the face of the accusations, Durov firmly denied them: "We haven't refused to cooperate with law - enforcement agencies. In all cases involving drugs, child pornography, or fraud, we actively cooperate with investigations by various countries." Telegram has also repeatedly stated publicly that the company has made the greatest efforts to combat illegal activities within the scope permitted by law, but will not sacrifice user privacy to gain the government's trust.

Until recently, after Durov paid the bail, he was allowed to be released from prison and return to Dubai. His self - disclosure of dividing his tens of billions of wealth equally among 106 children has once again become the focus of public opinion. Durov revealed that the reason he made a will now is that his work "involves risks - defending freedom will make you have many enemies, including those from powerful countries".

Like Elon Musk, Durov is also very active on social media, and he likes to comment on other tech tycoons.

He said that Elon Musk is "very emotional", while he himself is more "thoughtful". He evaluated Mark Zuckerberg as "good at following trends but lacking in adhering to values" and called WhatsApp a "cheap, watered - down version of Telegram". He said that Sam Altman (OpenAI) has strong social skills but doubts his depth in the core technology field.

But this time, Musk, who is also keen on having children, finally lost in terms of quantity.

In the eyes of ordinary people, Durov's various behaviors and ideas seem to be out of this world and hard to understand. But perhaps it's precisely this kind of thinking and way of doing things that go beyond the norm that has allowed him to blaze a different trail on the path of technology and wealth.

However