Selling a stock short is a tactic in which an investor borrows shares in a company from a broker and then immediately sells them on the open market.

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Deutsche Telekom's second tactic is to reinvent itself as a Systemhaus, selling multimedia, electronic commerce and anything else floating modishly across the Atlantic.

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Options include an installment sale that spreads payments over a number of years or a "like-kind" exchange, a tactic in which an investor swaps assets instead of selling them, says Kogod's Mr. Kautter.

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