Chernin, Murdoch's $30 Million Man, Proves Worth as Heir Exits

News Corp.'s second-in-command, Peter Chernin, was promised as much as $30 million annually when Chairman Rupert Murdoch renewed his contract a year ago. Murdoch's investment already is paying off.

Chernin is the main reason New Corp.'s Class A non-voting shares barely budged, dropping 19 cents to $16.38, when Murdoch's oldest son and heir apparent, Lachlan, resigned July 29 as deputy chief operating officer, says Morris Mark, president of Mark Asset Management Corp. in New York.