Meet Pavel Durov, the handsome tech billionaire who founded Telegram and VK – nicknamed the Russian Facebook – who now lives a global, ascetic lifestyle after fleeing his home country
- The 37-year-old tech whizz, dubbed the ‘Russian Mark Zuckerberg’ founded the social network VK with his brother Nikolai before he was fired as CEO and forced to flee the country
- A strong advocate for data privacy, Durov founded Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, has Ukrainian heritage and lives a healthy, alcohol-free lifestyle
At 37 years old, entrepreneur Pavel Valeryevich Durov is a hugely successful and outspoken tech billionaire who is also a champion of free speech and data privacy. Having amassed a personal net worth running into the billions, Durov’s life is an interesting story that many may not know about.
So who exactly is the Russian-born tech wizard? Here are five fascinating facts about the dashing developer, who has also recently taken to sharing shirtless snaps on his personal Instagram.
1. He created Russia’s equivalent to Facebook
Durov was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he attended and graduated from Saint Petersburg State University in 2006. In that same year, he founded the social networking website Vkontakte with his older brother Nikolai. Later known as just VK, the social media platform quickly became known as the Russian Facebook, with its founder being described as the Russian counterpart to Mark Zuckerberg.
Though he has since left the social network and gone on to create messaging app Telegram, while he was involved with VK, it was said to have been valued at some US$3 billion. According to Visual Capitalist, as of 2021, VK is the 19th most visited website on the planet used by about 1.8 billion active users every month.
2. He was fired as CEO and fled his homeland
One of the things Durov is arguably most famous for is his clear focus on the security and privacy of his users’ data. In fact, his unshakeable commitment to protecting user privacy ultimately led to his being forced to leave his position at VK and having to flee Russia.
Back in 2013, while still VK’s CEO, Durov refused to give the Russian security agency the personal and private data of Ukrainian VK users.
In a recent post on his personal Telegram channel, in which he expressed his support for the victims of the conflict in Ukraine (his maternal heritage is of Ukrainian descent), Durov recounted what happened:
“ … the Russian security agency FSB demanded that I provide them the private data of the Ukrainian users of VK who were protesting against a pro-Russian president. I refused to comply with these demands, because it would have meant a betrayal of our Ukrainian users. After that, I was fired from the company I founded and was forced to leave Russia. I lost my company and my home, but would do it again – without hesitation.”