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A project of our size needs at least a few hundred million dollars per year to keep going,” Mr. Durov wrote in his public channel on Telegram late last year. “While doing that, we will remain independent and stay true to our values, redefining how a tech company should operate.

For some time, Mr. Durov and a few dozen staffers had no fixed headquarters, but rather traveled the world, setting up shop in one city after another, he told the Journal in 2016. The company now has its operational base in Dubai, though it says it doesn’t keep servers there.Mr. Durov maintains a yearslong friendship from his VK days with actor and tech investor Jared Leto, with whom he shares an ascetic lifestyle that eschews meat and alcohol.