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Telegram is raising at least $1.5 billion through a new bond offering, with major backers including BlackRock and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala returning for the deal, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The encrypted messaging app is offering five-year bonds at a 9% yield, with proceeds earmarked for repurchasing debt from its 2021 issuance, which matures in March 2026. The new sale is also expected to bring in fresh investors such as hedge fund giant Citadel, sources told the WSJ.
The bond deal includes an option for investors to buy shares at a 20% discount if Telegram eventually goes public, repeating terms from prior rounds, Financial Times reported.
The $1.5 billion raise is being viewed by some market participants as a rare chance to gain early exposure to Telegram equity. “This is the only way to access Telegram stock pre-IPO,” said Mikko Ohtamaa, co-founder of Trading Strategy, in a LinkedIn post, pointing to the presence of “very credible investors.”
News of the bond issue came the same day Telegram announced a $300 million partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI to integrate the Grok chatbot into the app.
For its part, Telegram hasn’t officially commented, but CEO Pavel Durov hinted at developments via X: “I’ll be in Dubai the first week of June — good news ahead.” It would be his second visit to the UAE since a French court granted him limited travel following his arrest in August 2024.
Durov was arrested in Paris as part of an investigation into Telegram’s role in allegedly enabling illegal activities. However, he insisted that Telegram had gone beyond what was legally required in content moderation and crime prevention. “There is nothing our billion-strong community can’t overcome,” he added.
The CEO reassured users that Telegram’s core principles remain unchanged. The company continues to balance local legal compliance with its mission to protect activists and ordinary users from oppressive governments or corporations, ensuring that criminals cannot exploit the platform.
Pavel Durov confirmed in October that the platform has been disclosing IP addresses and phone numbers of criminals to authorities since 2018.
Durov added that this process is not new, stating that Telegram has long responded to properly formed legal requests from authorities across most countries. These disclosures are made when users are involved in criminal activities, aligning with Telegram’s privacy policies.
For instance, in Brazil, Telegram fulfilled 75 legal requests in Q1 2024, and in India, its largest market, the company satisfied 2461 legal requests in the same period.
