MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. The net worth of Pavel Durov, entrepreneur and co-founder of the Telegram messenger, fell by 50% during 2025 to $6.6 billion, Forbes reports.

Durov first entered the Forbes list in 2016, when he found himself on the list of the 200 Richest Businessmen of Russia with an estimated net worth of $600 million. He became a billionaire in 2018 and has remained a regular on the global list ever since.

According to the publication, Forbes's highest valuation of Durov's net worth ($17.2 billion), was in 2021. At that time, Telegram issued its first bonds convertible into shares at a discount to the future IPO price. At the time, investors were optimistic, valuing Telegram at $30-35 billion.

Forbes noted that Durov would need to pay off his bondholders soon. The first bonds, issued for five years with a 7% coupon, are due on March 22, 2026. The entrepreneur partially redeemed them in advance by placing new bonds in June worth $1.7 billion, but with a higher yield - a 9% coupon - suggesting their lower reliability. In March, he will have to redeem the remaining old bonds worth about $1.1 billion.