Yahoo is preparing to announce that it has sold its core internet business to US mobile network Verizon for $4.8bn (£3.65bn), ending months of speculation over the companys future.

The deal will likely be announced before the start of trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange, although both Yahoo and Verizon are yet to make statements on the sale.

The sale comes just over a year after Verizon acquired AOL, and the acquisition of Yahoo will largely power the internet business it established with that purchase, strengthening its advertising technology and providing it with assets like search, mail, messenger and social networks.

Verizon was an early front-runner in the race to acquire Yahoos core internet business once the firm announced it was open to a sale after a strategic review in February of this year.

Verizon even leaned on personal connections, sending Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, to lead negotiations. Armstrong had worked with Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer at Google, and the two had reportedly considered merging the two companies in the past.

While the full details of the sale have not yet been announced, the deal will likely mark the end of Yahoo as an operating company. It will exist only as the owner of a 35.5 per cent stake in Yahoo Japan, and 15 per cent in Chinese eCommerce firm Alibaba Group Holding.

Yahoo was a huge name in the early days of the internet, having been founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994. It became a destination for those exploring the web during its initial growth, but by the late 200os the company had become muddled, without a strong sense of purpose, and failed to predict the rising power of mobile until it was too late.

What the sale means for Yahoos employees and its internet assets like Tumblr remains to be seen, but the sale will mark the effective end of one of the titans of the early internet.

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