Yahoo, which has been fighting with falling advertising sales for years, has sped up the process to sell its media, e-mail and other web businesses, bowing to pressure from others and activist investor Starboard Value LP.

As much as 5 percent increased on Wednesday, as investors digested the business’s somewhat better-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday and CEO Marissa Mayer’s assurances that she was focused on the sale.

Verizon Communications Inc was set to progress to the second phase of bidding for the internet company’s center assets, and Yahoo’s advisors are working through offers to put together a short list, Reuters reported, citing sources.

Daily Mail & General Trust Plc said it was in discussions with possible partners to mount a combined bid for Yahoo’s net assets.

Purchasing Yahoo’s core assets – which contain e-mail, news and an internet search engine and sports services would improve digital advertising sales and Daily Mail’s on-line reach from its popular sites that are internationally, and partially cancel print sales that is shrinking.

Private-equity firms Warburg Pincus LLC, TPG Capital LP, Bain Capital LLC, Apollo Global Management LLC and Apax Partners LLP also have submitted first-round bids, according to sources.

The auction has brought interest from Yellow Pages owner YP LLC, which is backed by AT&T Corp. and Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc

Analysts said the firm direction’s failure to address crucial questions about the bidding procedure had added a degree of uncertainty while investors looked pacified by Yahoo’s results and the improvement on the sale.

Little, too late” was Barclays analyst Paul Vogel qualified Yahoo’s renewed focus on video and cellular telephone search initiatives.