Telegram successfully raised $1.5 billion in bonds! Investors include BlackRock, Castle, Mubadala, and others.

Messaging app Telegram plans to issue at least $1.5 billion in new bonds, backed by Citadel, BlackRock and others. Despite the legal issues facing its CEO, Pavel Durov, investors remain bullish on its user growth and financial improvement. (Synopsis: Vietnamese government announces ban on Telegram: Fight crime!) Encrypted communication is not in line with national security) (Background supplement: Telegram founder: the government wants encryption software to force the installation of "back doors", even if it does not hesitate to withdraw from the market) According to the Wall Street Journal relaying people familiar with the matter, instant messaging giant Telegram is about to issue new bonds of at least $1.5 billion on May 28, 2025, and has received subscription commitments from heavyweight investment institutions such as Citadel, BlackRock and Mubadala. Strong Operating Data and Financial Reversal Attract Investment Investors' continued support for Telegram is mainly due to the strong operating performance of its platform and significantly improved financial position. According to Affmaven and Resourcera, as of March 2025, Telegram's monthly active users (MAU) have exceeded 1 billion, an annual increase of 5.3%, while the number of daily active users has remained at about 5 at (DAU) billion levels. Over the past five years, its MAU growth rate has been as high as 137.5%. The SOAX report further notes that Telegram has more than 15 million paid subscribers, doubling from the same period last year, reflecting user engagement and the platform's monetization potential. Financially, Telegram successfully turned a loss into a profit in 2024. The company disclosed annual revenue of $1.4 billion in 2024 and realized a profit of about $540 million, in stark contrast to a loss of $173 million and revenue of $342 million in 2023. Its revenue mainly comes from advertising (25 million US dollars ) and premium subscription services (292 million US dollars ). The company expects revenue to exceed $2 billion in 2025, with a profit of $700 million. Part of the proceeds will be used to redeem old debt issued in 2021 and due in March next year, which will help optimize its debt structure. Extended reading: The era of ordinary people making money with Telegram begins: gift market launched, limited-time dynamic upgrade, fully automatic channel translation Legal challenges for CEOs Despite the company's solid fundamentals, the legal issues facing TG CEO Pavel Durov in France remain in the spotlight. Durov faces preliminary charges over Telegram's alleged failure to adequately cooperate with the authorities' investigation into illegal content such as child pornography on the platform. Telegram and Durov themselves disagree. Durov was briefly detained and investigated in Paris in August 2024 and has now been released with permission to leave France. Speaking publicly at a recent conference in Oslo, he said: "We comply with all binding legal requirements. So to this day, we don't understand what we're doing wrong." Even so, major investors such as Citadel, BlackRock and Mubadala chose to support Telegram's bond offering, indicating that they are more focused on Telegram as a high-growth messaging platform, after all, traffic and channels are king. Related reports Notcoin founder: The click-to-earn model is dead, what is the next step in the development of Telegram games? Telegram Mini App Game Analysis: Is it conducive to player participation in the ecology or Pay to Win? 〈Telegram successfully raises $1.5 billion in bonds! BlackRock, Castle, Mubadala and other participants" This article was first published in BlockTempo's "Dynamic Trend - The Most Influential Blockchain News Media".