(News Bulletin 247) – As part of an interview with the Financial Times, the founder of the secure messaging application, Pavel Durov, is considering a stock market listing of his company.

After a wave of IPOs of major social networks in the 2010s, with Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest, a shortage has been observed since 2019.

Reddit will end this soon. The platform known for its discussion forums indicated Monday in a document sent to the SEC, the American stock market watchdog, that it intended to raise $500 million during its listing on Wall Street, the date of which has not been confirmed. still fixed.

What about Telegram, the secure messaging application based in Dubai? She could also take the path of the Stock Exchange. This is what its founder, the Russian Pavel Durov, indicates in an interview with the Financial Times, which the British daily presents as its first public interview since 2017.

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Actions attributed to the most loyal users?

The manager first explains that his company is on the verge of being profitable, with the first profits expected to be made in 2025 or even 2024, while the number of monthly active users has crossed the 900 million mark.

Pavel Durov continues by asserting that funds have offered to buy his company for valuations exceeding $30 billion. Advances rejected by the founder of Telegram who prefers to explore the avenue of a potential IPO. “Generally speaking, we see in [une introduction en bourse] a way to democratize access to the value of Telegram,” he told the Financial Times.

Although it does not specify the date and location of this potential listing, the British daily cites sources close to the matter who explain that Telegram will probably choose the United States, and will take the plunge as soon as the group has reached profitability and the Market conditions will be sufficiently favorable to the transaction.

Pavel Durov did not wish to comment on this information, simply explaining that Telegram was “studying several options”.

Furthermore, the Financial Times explains that Telegram was financed via $2 billion in bonds issued in 2021 and 2023. In the event of an IPO, the holders of these debt securities will be able to convert their debts into shares at a discount. from 10% to 20% compared to the hypothetical introductory price. This is if an entry on the listing occurs before the end of March 2026. Which therefore gives an incentive for Telegram to carry out such an operation before this deadline.

Interesting fact: Pavel Durov reported that Telegram is considering awarding shares to its most loyal users, which is similar to Reddit’s initiative. The American group has reserved 1.76 million shares for its “Redditors”, that is to say the users and moderators and the most active users of the platform.