Jackie Chan- How The Film Star Built A Business Empire

While better known for his movies than his business ventures, Hong Kong’s Jackie Chan has built an empire in his own rags-to-riches story.

- Stephen Corby

There’s a reason you don’t see too many qualified accountants delivering pithy punchlines after deftly disabling a bad guy (although “looks like your number’s up” would be utterly perfect), or recent MBA graduates abseiling off the roof of a burning skyscraper, loaded pistol in one hand, a signed costs agreement in the other.

Equally, when you think of the iconic blockbuster action heroes of the 1990s, you’re likely thinking of shirt-shredding muscles rather than bulging business brains. Wesley Snipes, for example, famously traded his Passenger 57 status for a prison number after he was found guilty of tax evasion. And Steven Seagal went from Under Siege to under bankruptcy protection, too, after a series of bungled business decisions left him virtually penniless.

And that’s before we even revisit the Planet Hollywood story, which counted Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger among its high-profile investors. The Tinseltown-themed restaurant listed publicly at US$18 a share in 1996, peaking at US$32 by the end of its first day of trading. Two years later, it was valued at less than a dollar per share, and the company eventually filed for bankruptcy, twice.

All of which makes the impossible rags-to-riches story of Hong Kong-born megastar Jackie Chan (born Chan Kong-sang on 7 April 1954) even more incredible. The former stuntman (and one-time adult movie star; “I had to do anything I could to make a living ... but I don’t think it’s a big deal. Even Marlon Brando used to be exposed in his movies”) hasn’t just held onto his movie money, he’s grown the pile considerably through a series of shrewd real-estate investments, company chairmanships and sponsorships.