BlackRock, Citadel, Mubadala on deck for Telegram's $1.5B bond sale with 9% yield

Encrypted messaging platform Telegram is set to raise at least $1.5 billion through a bond issuance this week. The social app is looking to attract financial firms against the backdrop of legal troubles facing its founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France, according to a Wednesday Wall Street Journal exclusive, citing individuals familiar with the deal.

The five-year bond will carry a 9% yield and is expected to attract significant investor interest, including commitments from financial institutions like BlackRock, Citadel, and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. 

The issuance, slated for today, will help Telegram buy back existing debt stemming from bonds issued in 2021 that are due in March next year. The company has already repurchased approximately $400 million of that previous debt using cash reserves.

Telegram issues bond sale for IPO

Telegram’s issuance could give investors the option to convert their bonds into equity if Telegram launches an initial public offering. Still, given how volatile financial markets are at the moment and the unresolved legal case against Durov, a public offering seems unlikely in the near future.

Durov, a Russian-born entrepreneur who holds dual citizenship in France and the United Arab Emirates, is currently under investigation by French authorities for allegedly failing to cooperate with probes into illegal content on the platform, including child pornography.

The CEO addressed an audience via video at a conference in Oslo on Tuesday. “We complied with all the binding legal requests we received. So up until this day, we don’t understand what we did wrong,” he claimed, convinced that Telegram has fulfilled its legal obligations.

Investors could look past legal risks

Despite the serious charges against the founder, investors still have faith in Telegram’s ability to generate long-term profits. In 2024, Telegram made $540 million off of $1.4 billion in sales, according to people familiar with the company’s financial records. These numbers represent a considerable improvement from last year, when the company lost $173 million on $342 million in revenue.

The company has also projected continued growth, telling investors it expects to generate more than $700 million in profit on $2 billion in revenue in 2025. These figures come amid Telegram’s expanding user base. 

In March, Durov announced that the app had reached 1 billion monthly active users. On Tuesday, he told his followers on X that paid subscriptions had surpassed 15 million, more than doubling from the previous year.

Durov mulls Dubai return, repeats allegations against French government

Shortly after reports of the bond deal and the company’s financial figures broke, Durov posted a brief message on X, saying: “I’ll be in Dubai the first week of June, good news ahead.” If the trip materializes, it will mark Durov’s second visit to Dubai since his arrest in France in August 2024.

I’ll be in Dubai the first week of June — good news ahead.

— Pavel Durov (@durov) May 28, 2025

His previous visit occurred in March after a French court granted him temporary permission to leave the country. Since then, French authorities have restricted his movements across the French border.

Earlier in the week, Durov repeated the allegations that French intelligence attempted to pressure him into interfering with Romania’s presidential election by targeting conservative Telegram channels.

Speaking via video at the Oslo Freedom Forum, he propounded, “I was indeed asked by the head of French intelligence, Nicolas Lerner, to turn off conservative Romanian Telegram channels ahead of the election.”

The statement, made after French judicial authorities denied Durov permission to attend the event in person, contradicts a prior denial by France’s foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE.

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