CURRENT ACCOUNT: The decision by Liberty Media to reduce its stake in Chorus from 50 per cent to 39.5 per cent raises a number of rather interesting questions.

The price paid by BCI international for the 10.5 per cent stake is said to have been less than $10 million (€9.5 million).

As Goodbody Stockbrokers points out, this puts a value on Chorus that falls some way short of the $68 million that Independent News & Media attributes to its 50 per cent stake in the cable company.

The first question is whether PricewaterhouseCoopers will be seeking a further write-down of the value of the Chorus stake when they come to audit the Independent accounts.

Any such proposals - including a review of the balance sheet value attached to the company's titles in such a tough market for newspapers - will no doubt be resisted by Sir Anthony O'Reilly and the rest of the heavily indebted group's management.

The second question relates to Independent's decision not to consolidate Chorus's losses into its accounts because it claims that the stake is in the process of being sold.

Consolidating its share of Chorus's €36.6 million loss last year would have made a significant dint in the group's €38 million profit.

The fact that BCI did a deal with Liberty rather than Independent raises the question of who is really serious about getting out of Chorus - Independent or Liberty?

No doubt the Competition Authority and the Department of Enterprise and Employment would like to know the answer to this. They approved the Sir Anthony O'Reilly-led take over of Eircom on the basis that Independent was disengaging from Chorus. Now - if anything - Independent's interest and influence over Chorus has been enhanced.