Current Account: One of the stranger elements of the Riverdeep MBO is the apportioning of stakes in the private company.

As of now, Pat McDonagh, the founder of the company, has a holding of around 21 per cent in the educational software group. Chairman and chief executive Barry O'Callaghan has just 4.5 per cent.

However, should the pair succeed in persuading shareholders that their $1.51 a share offer is the only show in town, they will share equal billing in the new company - each holding 21.2 per cent.

How come? Media-shy Mr McDonagh has made no comment on the sudden show of altruism - a transfer of wealth that, had it been to all fellow shareholders, would have been welcomed by those weighing up an offer pitched at less than half the flotation price of the company.

In the words of the MBO team and its advisers, Pat McDonagh has become a very rich man on the back of the efforts of the management team led by Mr O'Callaghan.

During the past three years, Mr McDonagh has taken about €120 million out of the company by selling shares while his partner-to- be took nothing - beyond his considerable salary of course.

In addition, Barry O'Callaghan will continue to be the lead executive driving the company forward, even as a private concern.

Of course, an alternative view (and one proposed by more than one analyst) is that it was the actions of the current management - the unexplained purchase of Broderbund, the strange decision to delist from Nasdaq and the botched conference call - that undermined the share price and triggered the MBO.

One thing is certain. If Pat McDonagh is seen as the big winner in Riverdeep thus far, Barry O'Callaghan is likely to be the person gaining most from the current process.