But don't think his riches match the billions owned by former US President and The Apprentice host Donald Trump and his UK Apprentice counterpart Sir Alan Sugar.
"I don't have the wealth (by a long way) that my predecessors have," says 60-year-old Pero.
"I'm delighted to be taking on the role of CEO for The Apprentice Aotearoa," he says
The Christchurch man's name rings out in NZ like Trump's does globally, thanks to TV and radio advertising over decades for Mike Pero Real Estate and Mike Pero Mortgages.
"I think my style will be somewhat different from other versions and their CEOs. I feel I have been through the 'school of hard knocks' since leaving Aranui. I'd like to share some of my years of learning and my wisdom with the next generation," he says.
Pero's name still flies high on Mike Pero Mortgages, a firm he founded in 1991, and with which he reportedly made his first million in 1997. In 2007, he established a real estate company under the same brand name.
Some of the hard knocks Pero describes came in the form of national headlines, as he figured out how to work with the companies that bore his name. He no longer owns a stake in Mike Pero Mortgages, nor, as of last year, in the real estate arm either.
In 2018, Pero told the Herald he had settled a long-running legal stoush with the real estate agency that bears his name.
Pero said then that he and Mike Pero Mortgages, both 50 per cent shareholders in Mike Pero Real Estate, had resolved their differences and would work together on the Mike Pero Real Estate and Mortgages businesses, under one umbrella.
The settlement was reached during the final stages of a High Court case that saw Mike Pero Mortgages attempting to claw back $2.2 million (or $2.4m with interest) after the firm said Pero overpaid himself at the jointly-owned real estate business.
Pero then told the Herald the deal saw him lower his stake in Mike Pero Real Estate from 50 per cent to 24 per cent as Mortgages raised its holding from 50 per cent to 76 per cent.
This is the second edition of The Apprentice to be produced in Aotearoa. The Apprentice New Zealand aired back in 2010 with candidates vying to work for millionaire property developer Terry Serepisos.
On September 26, 2011 he was declared bankrupt at the Wellington High Court, and later discharged on October 24, 2014.
