Dubai, April 7 -- Telegram founder Pavel Durov topped the Forbes list of UAE's richest billionaires with a net worth of $17.2 billion. Eleven UAE residents found their names on the list. These 11 billionaires control a total of $43.4 billion of wealth. Nearly 40 percent of it is held by the Telegram founder.

In the global Forbes' richest list, he grabbed the 112th position. He also became the first UAE resident to bag a position in the list of top 200 billionaires in the world after his wealth increased from $3.4 billion in 2020 to $17.2 billion in 2021.

The wealth of Telegram founder increased exponentially recently after the app became popular. The popularity of the app increased after Facebook-owned WhatsApp announced a new privacy p...