On October 10, 1984, Pavel Durov was born in Leningrad, Russia (now Saint Petersburg). The majority of his early years were spent in Turin, Italy, where his father worked. In 2006, Durov received a first-class degree from Saint Petersburg State University's Department of Philology.
Family
Semyon Petrovich Tulyakov, the grandfather of Durov, served in the military during World War II and was awarded multiple medals. Renowned scholar and doctor of philological sciences Valery Semenovich Durov is his father. By virtue of his mother's side, Durov is of Ukrainian descent.
Career
Motivated by Facebook, Durov and Ilya Perekopsky co-founded VKontakte (VK) in 2006. Under Durov's direction, VK expanded to a $3 billion valuation. In 2011, he got into a confrontation with the police when they wanted the pages of opposition politicians removed. 2012 saw Durov openly reject Mail.ru Group's attempt to purchase VK, and in December 2013, he sold Ivan Tavrin his 12% share in the company. On April 1, 2014, Durov announced his resignation as CEO of VK, citing what was first thought to be a connection to the Russo-Ukrainian War. Later on April 3, 2014, he clarified that it was an April Fool's joke. Durov declined to remove Alexei Navalny's VK page and give Russian security services access to the personal information of Ukrainian demonstrators.
On April 21, 2014, he was fired from his position as VK CEO, citing his previous letter of resignation. Durov asserted that VK departed Russia after being essentially taken over by allies of Vladimir Putin. Durov got citizenship in Saint Kitts and Nevis after fleeing Russia, and he put $300 million in Swiss banks. His main goal was to develop the encrypted communications app Telegram. Berlin served as the home base for Telegram before it relocated to Dubai. In an effort to profit from Telegram's popularity, Durov introduced the "Gram" cryptocurrency and the TON platform in 2018. Despite raising a total of $1.7 billion from investors, the US regulator SEC filed legal proceedings against him.
Awards and Achievements
Durov has received multiple accolades for his accomplishments, such as being named the most promising leader under 30 in Northern Europe in August 2014 and being selected to represent Finland in the WEF Young Global Leaders in 2017. In 2018, he received an award from the Union of Kazakhstan's Journalists for his anti-censorship efforts, and he was listed as one of Fortune magazine's "40 Under 40" people.
Personal Life
Durov resides in Dubai, is single, and has two kids. In April 2021, he was granted citizenship in the United Arab Emirates. Durov is well-known for his libertarian beliefs, which include advocating for asceticism and a life free from material belongings. On his twenty-seventh birthday in 2011, he gave a million dollars to the Wikimedia Foundation, and in 2012, he published libertarian manifestos outlining his suggestions for enhancing Russia.
