MIAMI, FL -- (Marketwire) -- 07/07/10 -- The merger of PODER and Hispanic magazines to create PODER Hispanic, a Hispanic-focused business and lifestyle publication, has been announced.

With this merge, PODER Hispanic will increase circulation from 125,000 to 400,000. This will make PODER Hispanic by far the most important magazine reaching Hispanic leaders, doubling the circulation from 1.2 million to 2.4 million copies a year.

PODER Hispanic retains the look of the former PODER Enterprise, while incorporating several features of Hispanic magazine, including the popular Julie Stav column. PODER Hispanic will continue to offer readers what it likes to call "intelligence for the business elite," but will now be adding a little more Latino lifestyle flavor to the editorial menu. "While our business focus will not change, we will be bringing you more stories about how Hispanics, or Latinos, are changing the face of America," said publisher Nicolas Ibarguen. "Our plan is to continue to tell the story of the American Latino in a way no other magazine currently offers."

Ibarguen notes that the 2010 census will confirm that the Latino community is the fastest growing major race or ethnic group, projected at around 48 million. The Pew Research Center estimates Hispanics of all races will number 128 million in 2050, accounting for 29 percent of the population.

By combining coverage of business and lifestyles, PODER Hispanic hopes to show the rest of the country what the Hispanic community offers to the U.S., whether through the creation of badly needed new jobs, or cultural diversity. This month the magazine features on its U.S. cover the captain of the U.S.A. soccer team, Carlos Bocanegra, who has Mexican roots.

Under the direction of Isaac Lee, the magazine's founder and Editor in chief, the Miami and U.S. editions are now led by award-winning journalist David Adams.