Comcast buys Web style newsletter Daily Candy

Comcast Corp. is buying the popular e-mail newsletter aimed at stylish women, Daily Candy, for an estimated $125 million.

The purchase expands the Philadelphia cable giant's push into online-content properties that it hopes will draw traffic to its various entertainment Web sites, including Fandango.com, Fancast and Movies.com.

"We're trying to build a large presence online as more and more of our customers look to the Web for entertainment and content. Daily Candy fits right into that strategy," said Sam Schwartz, executive vice president of Comcast Interactive Media.

The company said the Daily Candy purchase fit well with its cable television properties, including the Style and E! Entertainment channels.

Comcast did not disclose the price, but a source close to the company put the figure at $125 million.

Daily Candy delivers more than 2.5 million e-mail subscriptions through local editions in 12 key U.S. cities, including Philadelphia and New York. It also has a London edition and versions that focus on specific audiences, such as parents and travelers.

The site generates revenue through ads, but says the editorial content is not influenced by advertisers.

Its daily dispatches might, for example, direct readers to an undiscovered designer or little-known bar - in a style that reads as if written by the cool kids at school.

A recent Philadelphia edition promoted City Planters, a Northern Liberties spot that delivers potted plants to your door.

"The last time you had a plant delivered to your door was at 2 in the morning. And it wasn't exactly on par with the law," the piece began. It later mentioned that City Planters products are strictly legal.

Dany Levy launched Daily Candy in 2000, believing young, affluent women like herself were looking for recommendations that weren't on everybody's radar. It built a loyal list of subscribers, especially in New York, by filling people in about sample sales and other designer deals. Last year, the New York Daily News asked whether Daily Candy had become so popular that it was no longer hip.