Pavel Durov, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Telegram recently revealed that he has over "100 biological kids". He took to the messaging app to share the same with his 5.7 million subscribers. "I was just told that I have over 100 biological kids. How is this possible for a guy who has never been married and prefers to live alone?" he said.
Mr Durov said about 15 years ago, a friend approached him with a "weird request". "He said that he and his wife couldn't have kids due to a fertility issue and asked me to donate sperm at a clinic for them to have a baby. I laughed my ass off before realizing he was dead serious," he added.
He stated that the boss of the clinic told him that "high-quality donor material" was in short supply. The doctor went on to say that it is the 39-year-old's "civic duty to donate more sperm to anonymously help more couples."
Mr Durov continued, "This sounded crazy enough to get me to sign up for sperm donation. Fast forward to 2024, my past donating activity has helped over a hundred couples in 12 countries to have kids. Moreover, many years after I stopped being a donor, at least one IVF clinic still has my frozen sperm available for anonymous use by families who want to have kids."
The entrepreneur stated that he now plans to open-source his DNA so that his biological children can find each other. Discussing the importance of healthy sperm, Mr Durov said that he is proud that he did his duty. Of course, there are risks, but I don't regret having been a donor. The shortage of healthy sperm has become an increasingly serious issue worldwide, and I'm proud that I did my part to help alleviate it. I also want to help destigmatize the whole notion of sperm donation and incentivize more healthy men to do it, so that families struggling to have kids can enjoy more options. Defy convention – redefine the norm," he wrote on Telegram.
Since being shared, his post has been viewed by over 1.8 million people. A screengrab of his post was shared on X (formerly Twitter) where many people had different reactions to it.
"Tech CEOs' new hubristic hobby seems to be competing on number of offsprings they can claim – without ever loving them or being in their lives," said a user.
Another added, "The funniest part is that, there are still some of his sperm donation left and preserved in one of the facilities."
"This is what happens when you "donate" your sperm to IVF clinics. I don't see how this can be spun as a win," added a third.