In 2014, Pavel Durov fled the country after allies of the Kremlin took control of the social networking site most know just as VK. Russia's intelligence agency had asked Durov to turn over the data of anti-Kremlin protesters. Durov refused to do so. This provided opportunity to their linked entities to offload their shares at higher prices and make significant profits at the cost of unsuspecting retail investors. For tech stocks, “the main thing is yields,” Essaye said. Although some channels have been removed, the curation process is considered opaque and insufficient by analysts. Telegram was founded in 2013 by two Russian brothers, Nikolai and Pavel Durov.
from sg