Topics: Money, News, Parenting, Social Media, Technology, True Life, World News
A controversial billionaire is taking the notion of 'generational wealth' to a whole new level after confirming that his many children will inherit his $17,000,000,000.
And this isn't simply, two, three, or even 23 children we're talking about here, as Russian tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov - the co‑founder and CEO of encrypted messaging service Telegram - is the father to at least 106 children.
Such a fortune, even divided up over a hundred times, still leaves each of the 40-year-old billionaire's offspring with over $160,377,358 in the bank.
Now, Durov has six children born naturally with three different women.
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Then, on top of that, over 100 have been conceived via anonymous sperm donations across 12 different countries across the world.
Discussing his decision to French outlet Le Point, Durov highlighted just how important he feels equality is amongst all his children - regardless of how they were conceived.
"I want to specify that I make no difference between my children: There are those who were conceived naturally and those who come from my sperm donations," the money-maker said.
"They are all my children and will all have the same rights!"
However, Durov outlined that there is quite the catch attached to receiving the fortune, as none of the children will have access to the inheritance until June 19, 2055 - which will be 30 years after the Le Point interview yesterday (19 June) as a way for the father-of-106 to to encourage independence, self-reliance and 'normality'.
"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 explained.
But why the announcement now?
Well, Durov reasoned that the timing was motivated by the risks associated with his work - something which appears to be a reference to the legal issues he has faced over Telegram which was founded over a decade ago back in 2013 by the billionaire and his brother, Nikolai.
Now, the messaging app - which now boasts nearly one billion users - is popular amongst users due its privacy and encryption options.
However, this has also created problems when it comes to law enforcement.
Last year, French authorities accused Durov of allegedly being complicit in running a platform in which illegal activity - such as child sex abuse material, drug trade and fraud - could thrive, per The New York Times and NBC News.
Durov, who remains under judicial investigation in France, firmly denies any wrongdoing, telling Le Point: "Nothing has ever been proven showing that I am, even for a second, guilty of anything."
He added: "Defending freedoms earns you many enemies, including within powerful states."
NBC News also reported that Telegram has also said it uses several content moderation techniques to eliminate illicit behaviour.
