DailyCandy was an

online media In mass communication, digital media is any communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronic ...

company founded in 2000 by Dany Levy. The business originally consisted of a daily email

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of ...

that provided readers with information about hip and trendy events and businesses in their city. The emails first focused on

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

but eventually grew to include a dozen US cities and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In August 2008,

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

purchased the e-newsletter for $125 million and ultimately shut it down in 2014. DailyCandy was a pioneer in terms of using the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

as a

distribution channel Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

and in creating an email newsletter business. It inspired a number of similar email businesses including,

Thrillist ''Thrillist'' is an online media website covering travel. ''Thrillist'' was founded in 2004 by Ben Lerer and Adam Rich. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands ''The Dodo'', NowThis News, and Seeker to form the digital media ...

and

Tasting Table Tasting Table (incorporated as TDT Media Inc.) is an American digital media company focused on food and drink. The brand's website and email newsletter report on food and drink trends in the categories of dining, wine, cocktails, cooking, and fo ...

. A number of notable brands, including

Drybar Drybar is a California-based chain of salons that provides a hair styling service known as blowouts. The company was founded in 2010 by Alli Webb. History In 2009, Alli Webb began a side business called Straight At Home, which provided an ...

and Nasty Gal, launched via being spotlighted in DailyCandy newsletters.

Founding

In the 1990s, Dany Levy was a staff writer for various magazines such as ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

'' and '' Jane''. Having grown frustrated with the long lead times of the traditional magazine business, Levy quit her job and set out to create a daily newsletter targeting young, urban women. Levy has said that she somewhat modelled DailyCandy after

TheStreet ''TheStreet'' is a financial news and financial literacy website. It is a subsidiary of The Arena Group. The company provides both free content and subscription services such as Action Alerts Plus, a stock recommendation portfolio co-managed b ...

. On March 6, 2000, Dani Levy sent out the first edition of DailyCandy. At this time, the company was based out of Levy's

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

apartment. The initial recipient list consisted of 700 people, mostly journalist friends and people in Levy's personal rolodex. By 2003, the subscriber list had grown to 285,000 people, and Bob Pittman, the former President and COO of

AOL AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

, bought controlling interest for $3 million. In 2005, at DailyCandy's peak, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' deemed the newsletter as being "the undisputed grande dame of style sites". By 2008, the subscriber list had grown to over 2.5 million people and the company was earning $25 million in revenue. Comcast offered to purchase DailyCandy for $125 million, and the deal was finalized on September 12, 2008.Inc Magazine: "Dany Levy: What It Feels Like to Cash Out--Then Watch Your Company Die" By Bobbie Gossage
July–August 2014 In 2014,

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

, the Comcast division that then controlled the company, shut down DailyCandy.

References

External links

*
Dany Levy on losing Daily Candy
{{Authority control Online mass media companies of the United States 2000 establishments in New York City 2014 disestablishments in New York City Newsletter publishing companies Mass media companies established in 2000