Daily Candy Auction to Set Pace For Web Deals

Robert Pittman, former American Online official, has put his small web business, called Daily Candy, up for sale, a deal which will be an important measure for the pace and valuation of web deal making, writes The Wall Street Journal. After buying a controlling stake in Daily Candy - which produces urbane email newsletters that make daily shopping, food and media recommendations - in 2003 for $3.5 million, Pittman could sell the business for more than $100 million. Some potential buyers fear that all the best web properties have already been bought, meaning the remaining buyers may have to pay high prices for marginal properties.