Telegram Google rumour

Russian media says Telegram rebuffed a Google buyout. The firm denies it.

Trade publications in the autocratic state reported^{1, 2} that Google CEO Sundar Pichai met with the CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, to discuss a potential acquisition of the communications startup.

The reports, which The Register has been unable to confirm, suggest that Durov considered cooperation with Google "out of the question."

A later tweet from Telegram clearly denies these reports:

@leenus @robinwauters @tech_eu Hey there. This is not true. No acquisition talks.

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) April 29, 2016

Durov, who is Russian by birth, is currently in self-imposed exile, having left the country following what he alleged was a Putin-supported investor coup at his social networking site VKontakte. ®