Personal life and education

Chernin was born in Harrison, New York, the son of Mary (née Townsend) and Herbert Chernin. Chernin, whose father was Jewish, was raised Unitarian. He earned a B.A. in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley. Chernin is married to Megan (Brody) Chernin. They have three children: David (b. 1981), John (b. 1983), and Margaret (b. 1987).

Career

Widely considered one of the most powerful media executives in the world, Chernin joined Fox from Lorimar Film Entertainment, where he served as president and chief operating officer. Earlier, he served as executive vice president of programming and marketing for Showtime/The Movie Channel. Prior to Showtime, Chernin was vice president of Development and Production at the David Gerber Company. He began his career in publishing, first as associate publicity director of St. Martin's Press and later as an editor for Warner Books.

News Corp.

Prior to starting TCG, Chernin served as president and chief operating officer of News Corporation from 1996-2009. As President and COO of one of the world's largest media companies, he oversaw diversified global operations spanning five continents, including the production and distribution of film and television programming; television, satellite and cable broadcasting and News Corp.'s aggressive expansion into the digital media and internet space.

During his two decades with News Corporation, Chernin gained a reputation as an executive with a unique mastery of both the creative and corporate sides of the entertainment business. He headed both Twentieth Century Fox Filmed Entertainment and, earlier, the Fox Broadcasting Company. He has also had oversight of Fox’s tremendous growth in sports, cable and general entertainment television programming and distribution in the U.S. and internationally.

Under Chernin’s leadership, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation produced the two top-grossing movies of all time, Titanic and Avatar; the Fox Broadcasting Company became the No. 1-ranked network among the key demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds; and Twentieth Century Fox Television, the network production arm of Fox, became the No. 1 supplier of programming to all television networks.

News Corporation’s cable network group experienced explosive growth during Chernin's tenure - going from zero to more than 400 million cable subscribers in less than 10 years. Today, Fox has one of the most powerful collections of cable assets in the world: Fox News Channel, FX, Fox Sports Net, Fox Movie Channel, National Geographic Television, SPEED and the Fox Reality Channel. Prior to his 1996 appointment, Chernin served four years as chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment where he oversaw all aspects of the studio’s worldwide feature-film production, marketing and distribution activities. From 1989 to 1992, Chernin was president of entertainment for the Fox Broadcasting Company, while programming grew from two to seven nights a week.

It was rumored in the media that Chernin was going to leave his position at News Corp. by June 2009, when his contract expired, and that he would be replaced in the position by media executive James Murdoch, youngest son of Rupert Murdoch. On February 24, 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that Peter Chernin made the decision to leave News Corporation, to pursue entrepreneurial ventures. On June 4, 2009 Chase Carey was named Chernin's successor.

Chernin was approached in October 2010 by the Tribune Company to be either CEO or chairman of the board. There was also media speculation about Chernin's having a role in Yahoo!'s future after Carol Bartz's abrupt departure in September 2011. At the All Things Digital's AsiaD Conference in Hong Kong on October 20, 2011, Chernin dismissed that he was interested in pursuing opportunities with the company.

TCG

Chernin is chairman of The Chernin Group (TCG), which he founded in 2009 after leaving News Corp.

TCG’s current assets include Chernin Entertainment, an entertainment production company; a majority stake in CA Media, an Asia-based media investment company; and several strategic investments in U.S. based technology and media companies including Pandora, Fullscreen, Tumblr, Barstool Sports, and Flipboard.

TCG's entertainment production company, Chernin Entertainment, produces television programs and feature films. Its current television slate includes Fox's New Girl, and Touch and Ben and Kate. The company's first feature film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, was released in August 2011. and has grossed more than $480 million at the worldwide box office. Chernin Entertainment produced Parental Guidance, a comedy starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, which was released in December 2012, the sci-fi thriller from Joseph Kosinski, Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, and The Heat, starring Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock.

TCG launched CA Media in November 2010, which aims to strategically build, manage, and operate media, entertainment, and technology businesses in Asia. In July 2011, CA Media invested in the Hong Kong-based mixed martial arts promoter Legend Fighting Championship. In April 2012, CA Media acquired a 49 percent stake in Endemol India with the goal of making it the leading TV, film and digital content production company in India. At the same time CA Media also invested in Only Much Louder, a music, live events and youth media company in India. In April 2014, AT&T partnered with The Chernin Group to invest $500 million in online video services.

TCG is listed as an investor in Tumblr, which WSJ.com reported on May 19, 2013 would be sold to Yahoo for USD1.1 Billion.

On December 2, 2013, TCG announced that they had acquired the anime streaming site Crunchyroll in an effort to expand their online video assets. The acquisition was rumoured to priced at around $100 million.

On January 7, 2016 it was announced by David "El Presidente" Portnoy in a video that Chernin Media was acquiring a majority stake in the popular website "Barstool Sports" and moving the headquarters to New York City.

Filmography

• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
• Parental Guidance (2012)
• Oblivion (2013)
• The Heat (2013)
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
• The Drop (2014)
• St. Vincent (2014)
• Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
• Spy (2015)
• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
• Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)
• War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

Charities

Peter Chernin supports the following charitable causes: AIDS, Education, Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]