Telegram founder Pavel Durov said Monday that the company is now profitable. Durov said the chat app’s total revenue surpassed $1 billion in 2024.
The company, which launched its premium subscription service in 2022, now has 12 million paid users. Durov also said that the app is finishing the year with more than $500 million in cash reserves, without counting its crypto assets.
The Telegram CEO said that the company has repaid a significant amount of its debt bonds this fall.
“Over the past four years, Telegram has issued about $2 billion in debt. We repaid a meaningful share of it this Fall, taking advantage of favorable prices for the Telegram bonds. But there’s a lot of work ahead,” Durov said in a post on X.
Earlier this year, in an interview with the Financial Times, Durov said that the company will hit profitability next year with an aim to go public in the future.
Apart from crossing the mark of 950 million monthly active users, Telegram also released Business features, started ad revenue sharing, let creators earn money through paid content on channels, and launched a mini app store this year.
Durov himself had an eventful year as the Telegram founder was arrested in France over a lack of moderation practices and unwillingness to cooperate with authorities on topics like drug trafficking, money laundering, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
After the arrest, Telegram doubled down on its efforts related to removing illegal content on the platform. Earlier this month, the company said it removed 15.4 million groups and channels in 2024 that spread harmful content using AI.
