- Telegram is profitable after 11 years, thanks to ads and premium subscriptions, its CEO said.
- The platform’s revenue exceeded $1 billion, with $500 million in cash reserves.
- Telegram faces global scrutiny over misinformation and its lack of content moderation.
Encrypted messaging service Telegram is finally profitable about 11 years after it was founded, CEO Pavel Durov said Monday.
Durov wrote in a post on his Telegram channel that the messaging platform turned profitable this year because of revenue from ads and its premium subscription. It also paid off a “meaningful share” of its $2 billion debt, he said.
Telegram has been pushing monetization efforts this year such as a revenue-sharing model for content creators and a business-level subscription tier. The premium monthly subscription costs $4.99.
Telegram’s 2024 revenue surpassed $1 billion, and the company has $500 million in cash, excluding crypto, the Russian-born founder wrote. He said the results “demonstrate that social media platforms can achieve financial sustainability while staying independent and respecting users’ rights.
The milestone is a big improvement from last year’s figures: Telegram lost $108 million on revenue of $342 million, according to The Financial Times in August. Losses in early years are common for growing tech and media companies and Durov even floated the idea of a public listing earlier this year.
The messaging service, which said it has about 950 million users, has faced a series of controversies, including bans and scrutiny over the spread of misinformation. In August, French authorities arrested Durov and issued preliminary charges for allowing what they deemed criminal activity on Telegram. Durov has not been allowed to leave France since.
“Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” Durov wrote on his Telegram channel at the time.
He acknowledged that the platform’s growth spike caused “growing pains” that made it easier for criminals to abuse, but said it isn’t an “anarchic paradise.”
Spain, Germany, and the UK, among other countries, have considered banning the app or placing sanctions because of what they see as disinformation on the platform and a lack of response to government requests to take down some posts. Telegram differs from other social media platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube, because it has little to no content moderation. It is banned in China, Thailand, and Iran.
Telegram was banned in Russia between 2018 and 2020 after Durov denied the Kremlin access to user data. Durov left Russia in 2014 after similar problems with his previous social network venture.
Today, Telegram is popular in Russia and plays a major role in information about the war in Ukraine.
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