DailyCandy was an

online media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...

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 int ...

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 or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

but eventually grew to include a dozen US cities and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In August 2008,

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

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 system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

as a

distribution channel Distribution (or place) is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or business user who needs it. This can be done directly by the producer or service p ...

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

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis Ne ...

and

Tasting Table ''Tasting Table'' (incorporated as ''TDT Media Inc.'') is a 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 food ...

. 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 2008 by Alli Webb. History In 2008, Alli Webb began a side business called Straight At Home, which provided an ...

and

Nasty Gal Nasty Gal is an American retailer that specializes in fashion for young women. The company has customers in over 60 countries. Founded by Sophia Amoruso in 2006, Nasty Gal was named "Fastest Growing Retailer" in 2012 by '' Inc.'' magazine. Nasty ...

, 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, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

'' and ''

Jane Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

''. 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 by 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 traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, 14th Street (Manhattan ...

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 (stylized as 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. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

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

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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 is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

, 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 (state) Comcast subsidiaries Newsletter publishing companies