Paula Abdul reportedly quit American Idol after she heard that Fox execs had offered Ryan Seacrest a much higher salary than her $8 million per year. Today however, Fox Chairman of Entertainment Peter Rice told reporters that even though Ryan would be making more money outside of the show, he would not specifically be making the $15 million to be on Idol. According to Peter,

Ryan made a deal with CKX, which encompasses much more than Idol and Ryan is not being paid $15 million a year to be on Idol.

Paula was possibly under the impression that she was being offered an insulting $7 million less than Ryan when she halted negotiations earlier this week.