He was among the first backers of Apple Computer and 3Com, earning windfalls, but it was his humaneness that distinguished him from other venture capitalists.
Venture capitalists plowed money into A.I. start-ups like OpenAI and Anthropic. But the rise of the Chinese A.I. start-up DeepSeek has called that funding frenzy into question.
Even as Telegram faces legal scrutiny and grapples with billions in debt, it is set to be profitable for the first time as it tries cryptocurrencies, subscriptions and ads.