Salah Bachir

Salah Bachir (born October 3, 1955) is a Canadian philanthropist, patron of the arts, entrepreneur, magazine publisher and the President of Cineplex Media, which represents 95% of cinema advertising in Canada. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Professional life

Bachir began his career in publishing in 1979 with the launch of his elder brother's company, Videomania, Canada’s first publication targeted to consumers of a new home entertainment format: the video cassette. In 1984, Bachir started a trade publication, Premiere, to serve the needs of the burgeoning video distribution and retail sectors. He also produced an annual trade show, Focus on Video.

In 1999, Bachir launched Famous magazine — soon joined by Famous Québec — a movie/entertainment magazine distributed through the Famous Players movie theatre chain (since purchased by Cineplex Entertainment LP). In 2010 Famous changed its name to Cineplex Magazine and Famous Québec became Le magazine Cineplex. Cineplex Magazine’s circulation is among the highest of any Canadian magazine, with 750,000 copies per month.