A Russian Elon Musk with 100 biological children: Meet Pavel Durov
CNN
Pavel Durov is a lot of things to a lot of people. Programming prodigy. Billionaire entrepreneur. Kremlin stooge. Free-speech fighter. Biological father to at least 100 kids.
Pavel Durov is a lot of things to a lot of people. Programming prodigy. Billionaire entrepreneur. Kremlin stooge. Free-speech fighter. Biological father to at least 100 kids. Durov, the elusive founder of Telegram who was detained in France over the weekend, cuts the figure of a mysterious, globe-trotting tech bro with Mark Zuckerberg’s prodigiousness, Jack Dorsey’s bizarre lifestyle habits and Elon Musk’s libertarian streak – plus a similar obsession with pronatalism and fathering children. Durov said in July that he had fathered more than 100 children thanks to sperm donations he had made over the past 15 years. Worth an estimated $9.15 billion according to Bloomberg and armed with an array of passports and residences, Durov has for a decade lived a life without borders, a man on an often-shirtless journey to secure the freedom of communication from the prying eyes of governments, democratically elected or otherwise. Now, Durov’s legal trouble is drudging up an old debate, pitting Telegram’s end-to-end encryption, which keeps communications between users secure even from the company’s employees, against the security concerns of various governments and the European Union’s campaign to rein in big tech. Durov was born in 1984 in the Soviet Union but moved to Italy when he was a 4-year-old, the tech entrepreneur told right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson in a rare interview earlier this year. The family moved back to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, after Durov’s father received an offer to work at St. Petersburg State University. Durov said he and his older brother, Nikolai, were math prodigies from an early age. The elder Durov was the bigger star when the duo were children. Durov said his brother went on Italian TV to solve cubic equations in real time as a child and won repeated gold medals at the International Math Olympiad. The younger Durov was the best student at his school and competed locally.
President Donald Trump is pushing for an extension of soon-to-expire enhanced Obamacare subsidies – a key Democratic demand that Republicans fought fiercely and that was the basis for the longest-ever government shutdown.
The biggest event in New Zealand Thursday may have been the opening of a furniture store.
Even if you believe you haven’t yet been directly impacted by climate change, your wallet will feel its effects soon, according to a new study.
Small businesses are “starting to crack” amid a weakening economy, rising inflation and fickle consumers; and they drove job losses in the US private sector in November, new data showed Wednesday.
Prepare for automotive sticker shock next year – again.
Constellation Brands, the US owner of Modelo Especial and Corona, bet big on Latino customers for growth. But that strategy is unraveling under the Trump administration’s mass deportation push.
The European Union agreed Wednesday to phase out Russian natural gas imports by late 2027 as part of an effort to end the bloc’s decade-long dependency on Russian energy.
US wireless carrier AT&T said in a letter to the US telecoms regulator that it had committed to ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a move that comes as it seeks approval from the Trump administration to buy wireless spectrum assets.
Larry Summers has been banned for life from the American Economic Association, a professional organization for economists, with more than 17,000 members, over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The US labor market has weakened over the course of the year as hiring has stalled across many industries. The national unemployment rate has ratcheted higher in the process, hitting 4.4% in September.
Michael and Susan Dell are donating $6.25 billion to fund investment accounts for at least 25 million American children.
Gas prices dropped below an average of $3 a gallon in the United States on Tuesday for the first time in four-and-a-half years.
The United States appears ready for war with Venezuela, a prospect that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this weekend attributed to America’s desire to control the country’s vast oil reserves.