Referring to this incident described in Google paid this much to the guy who briefly owned Google.com, apparently, yes, companies do pay for their domains and may loose it.

If you've a hosting facility, you will need to reserve a public static IP address from an ISP and pay for it, at this point people can reach your website by typing in its IP, as you can reach Google through http://216.58.198.78

Registering a domain name is a process described in Domain Name Registration Process | ICANN and it is not available to public.

And here is a good read: Can you register a domain name directly with ICANN instead of through a middleman?

Answer from M. Elghamry on Stack Overflow
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motioninvest.com › where-to-buy-websites
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Discussions

html - Why should I buy a domain? Can I have my own website without registering? - Stack Overflow
Bring the best of human thought and AI automation together at your work. Explore Stack Internal ... I have this question on my mind for a very long time. Why should I buy a domain? If I don't buy a domain, will I face legal Issues? Even if I buy a domain, where does my website name gets registered? More on stackoverflow.com
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Where is the best place to buy a domain?
I can vouch for porkbun. Under any circumstances do not ever, even for one second consider godaddy. They are the scum of the earth and deserve bankruptcy. More on reddit.com
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201
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reddit.com › r/webdev › where is the best place to buy a domain?
r/webdev on Reddit: Where is the best place to buy a domain?
September 17, 2023 -

Hi, im working for 20 years actively in webdev and hosted and created a dozen of websites, but for last 4 years i switched almost completely to gamedev and jobs where i dont need to buy anything, just to create, so i lost a "touch" what websites are the best to buy domain/servers for hosting some not to complicated websites/apps, and i know that a lot of that changed in recent years.

Right now i have a lot of older websites/apps and domains hosted on hostgator and half of domains are long ago purchased on godaddy. What is the current trend and maybe the best one? Amazon? What is the best choice for buying domain? What is the best choice to buy hosting for php, what for nodejs or newer frameworks? Thanks!

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