Billionaires such as Telegram founder Pavel Durov and CEO Elon Musk have multiple children lined up to inherit their empires. Now, an extremely wealthy Chinese businessman is following suit in the U.S., aiming to have roughly 20 American-born children who will one day take over his video game business.
Xu Bo is the founder and chairman of Guangzhou Duoyi Network—one of China’s largest mobile gaming companies. Despite the 48-year-old entrepreneur building his company in Guangzhou, he doesn’t plan to pass down his business to a child born in his home country. A Wall Street Journal investigation into Xu’s surrogacy history in the U.S. found that the Chinese billionaire was seeking parental rights for at least four unborn children, and had previously fathered or was actively fathering at least eight more children via surrogacy. There could be dozens more.
According to WSJ reporting, Xu’s video game company had also reportedly stated that he has more than 100 children born through U.S.-based surrogates. Allegedly, he was looking for “50 high-quality sons,” per accounts linked to Xu on a Chinese microblogging website, and claimed that “having more children can solve all problems.” During a 2023 court hearing, Xu also told the court (as reported by WSJ) that he hoped to have around 20 U.S.-born children to one day take over his business. He also fantasized about his American kids marrying Musk’s children in the future. Last month, Xu’s ex-girlfriend alleged he had 300 children living around the world—a claim his company denied.
Xu’s Duoyi Network has since released a statement in response to the Journal, saying the publication had “deliberately confused facts and fabricated false information,” and that only 12 of the alleged 100-plus children were born in the U.S.
Another billionaire with over 100 heirs: Telegram founder Pavel Durvo
Xu is part of a growing group of ultra-rich men raising dozens of children to manage their companies and expand their legacies. Just like Xu, Telegram founder Pavel Durvo has helped conceive over 100 babies across 12 countries.
Officially, the entrepreneur (whose net worth was not specified) has six “official” children with three different partners. In addition to these, Durov has been donating to a sperm clinic for the past 15 years, which informed him that his donations have led to more than 100 pregnancies.
“I wrote my will very recently,” Durov told French publication Le Point this past June. “I make no distinction between my children: those conceived naturally and those from my sperm donations are all my children and will have the same rights! I don’t want them to tear each other apart after my death.”