To "DIY" without going through a broker, just find a friend who owns stock certificates and have them sell it to you. I believe there would be follow-on paperwo

To "DIY" without going through a broker, just find a friend who owns stock certificates and have them sell it to you. I believe there would be follow-on paperwork where you inform the company of who the new stockholder is so you can receive communications. Absolutely NOBODY does it this way. The closest that exists is that a few companies (often utility companies) still have programs from many decades ago where they will sell stock directly to the public. Finally, you could (theoretically) become a broker yourself and purchase stock directly on the exchanges.