In 1981 he got his first job in the Split construction company Melioracija, spending a year in Iraq working on military bases.
In 2003 he bought the Diokom industrial facilities (ex-Jugoplastika), and in 2007 he opened the Joker shopping mall, the largest in Dalmatia at the time.
On 16 January 2011, the citizens of Split, on the initiative of an informal group of citizens gathered on Facebook, protested at the Prva Voda beach on the Marjan park mountain in Split against a change of city urban planning regulation that allowed construction of restaurants and bars in the beach area.
[6] Kerum also caused a stir in Split when he proposed to build a 40 meter tall statue of Christ the Redeemer to rival that of Brazil.
[9][10] The news caused many in the media to point out the hypocrisy in his political image, where he has consistently presented himself as a supporter of traditional values and a conservative world view, but had been participating in an extramarital affair.
[12][13][14] His Cessna Citation X, a business jet worth approximately $17 million, is the most expensive privately owned aircraft in Croatia.