The application now has 12 million subscribers to its premium offer. Telegram has stepped up the moderation of its content while its founder, Pavel Dourov, is indicted in France.
More than ten years after its creation, the Russian messaging company Telegram has reached a new milestone: that of profitability. « Telegram's revenues in 2024 have exceeded $1 billion, and we end the year with more than 500 million dollars in cash, and that’s not counting our cryptoasset reserves »published on X its CEO and sole shareholder, Pavel Durov. These results are almost three times higher than those of 2023.
After having been self-financed for a long time by its founder, Telegram had to find sources of income to cope with its growing popularity – almost 1 billion users today. The application now has 12 million subscribers to its Premium offer, and sells advertising space which, according to New York Times would have brought him nearly 500 million dollars.
But many major advertisers prefer to stay away from a service with a sulphurous image, accused of being the rear base of criminal operations (child pornography, drug trafficking, terrorism, etc.). These abuses led to the arrest and indictment of Pavel Dourov in France last August. Since then, the platform has strengthened its moderation and cooperates more with the justice system. Which, in turn, improves its image.
The company also took advantage of the surge in cryptocurrencies to sell several hundred million dollars worth of its cryptoasset reserve, built up from 2018. A fraction of this sum allowed it to repay part of its 2.4 billion dollars of debt, issued in 2021 and which mature in 2026. « We took advantage of favorable Telegram bond prices. But there is still a long way to go »indicated Pavel Dourov on X. His judicial control requires him to reside in Paris while awaiting his trial.
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