Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said the encrypted messaging service is finally profitable 11 years after its founding thanks to advertising and paid subscriptions.
In a post on Telegram on December 23, Durov said the messaging platform turned a profit this year thanks to revenue from advertising and paid subscriptions. The company also paid off part of its $2 billion debt.
Telegram has begun to ramp up monetization efforts, including a revenue-sharing model for content creators and enterprise customers. The monthly subscription price is $4.99 USD.
Telegram’s 2024 revenue will surpass $1 billion and the company has $500 million in cash, excluding cryptocurrency. The results, the founder said, prove that social media platforms can be financially stable while remaining independent and respecting users’ rights.
The milestone is a significant improvement from last year: Telegram lost $108 million on revenue of $342 million, according to the Financial Times. The app, which has 950 million users, has also faced controversy, including bans and scrutiny for spreading misinformation. In August, French authorities arrested Durov and filed preliminary charges for allowing criminal activity on Telegram. He has been banned from leaving France ever since.
Telegram’s CEO acknowledged that the platform’s rapid growth has caused “pain” and made it more vulnerable to criminal abuse. But he insisted that Telegram is not an “anarchist paradise.”
Spain, Germany, the UK and other countries are considering banning the app or imposing sanctions over misinformation on the platform and its lack of response to government requests to take down content. Telegram operates differently from other social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube because it does little or no content censorship. The app is banned in China, Thailand and Iran.
(Theo Insider)