Wikipedia:Ticker symbols in article leads

Ticker symbols should not be used in article leads if the infobox contains this information. Unless the ticker symbol itself plays a sufficient role in the body of the article, the ticker symbol can be safely removed from the article lead in most cases. The consensus for this practice can be found at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Ticker symbols in article leads.

Rationale

Ticker symbols should not be included in article leads for the following reasons:

1. Ticker symbols in article leads are historical artifacts.
   The inclusion of ticker symbols in article leads dates from an era when articles about companies did not have infoboxes. Nowadays, they are historical artifacts (relics, perhaps) that can safely be removed from article leads in most cases. Examples: Ericsson, Apple Inc., Adobe Systems, Research In Motion, Hasbro.
2. The practice is unencyclopedic.
   For a news site, and in particular a financial news site, it makes sense to include the ticker symbol along with the first mention of the company in an article. The Wall Street Journal and other publications do this. For an encyclopedia, the practice is uncommon and strange.
3. It feels strange to include an external link in the article lead.
   Templates such as {{NASDAQ}} include a link to nasdaq.com in the article lead, which feels very strange. We do not even include a link to the company's own site in the article lead. There isn't a reason to include a link to a stock exchange's Web site.
4. This is not a new recommendation.
   As far back as May 2009, it has been recommended to remove ticker symbols from article leads when an infobox parameter (such as traded_as) is available.
5. It gives undue weight to the ticker symbol.
   When included in article leads, ticker symbols are often the second or third word in the article, giving a relatively unimportant piece of information undue weight.
6. They clutter the lead sentence.
   Large companies, particularly multinational or international companies, are often listed on multiple stock exchanges. The infobox is a convenient and clean place to put these ticker symbols. The article's lead sentence can end up looking cluttered and silly if it includes three or four ticker symbols.
7. The Wikipedia Manual of Style does not support it.
   According to Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section, the lead should summarize the body of the article with appropriate weight and unless the ticker symbol itself plays a sufficient role in the body of the article, the ticker symbol can safely be removed from article leads in most cases.

Alternate positions in the article

It is appropriate to include a ticker symbol somewhere in a relevant article (such as "GOOG" in Google). However, it should not be placed in the lead section when there are reasonable alternates available. Instead, it should be placed in the infobox if the article uses an infobox, such as {{infobox company}}, which supports ticker symbols.

Another alternate position is the ==External links== section of the page. When a ticker symbol External link is directly relevant to the article, ticker symbol templates such as {{NASDAQ}} can be placed in an external links section of the article, as in:

== External links ==
* {{NASDAQ|GOOG}}

See also

• Category:Ticker symbol templates
• Wikipedia:Database reports/Ticker symbols in article leads