But, he noted, these plants are relatively unglamorous businesses with low growth rates, and big companies want to get in more glamorous businesses.

Fannie Mae once mainly insured mortgages held by other financial institutions against default, a steady but unglamorous business.

Its roots are in the unglamorous but profitable business of supplying beauty salons.

A decade ago, the company mainly insured mortgages held by other investors against default, an unglamorous but steadily profitable business.

What is most amazing is that such growth was achieved by making hard disk drives, an unglamorous, dog-eat-dog business known for its violent shakeouts.

But to outsiders the lesson seemed to be that selling to online consumers was actually a difficult, unglamorous business.

Some other unglamorous businesses on the strip - the auto body repair shops, the warehouses, the wholesale linoleum stores - dry up and close.

Mr Buffett said Cort had all the right ingredients for a purchase: "a fine though unglamorous business, an outstanding manager and a price... that made sense."

But as the talk at the conference drifted to the costly, unglamorous business of reinforcing taxiways and retrofitting gates, some of the excitement faded.

In the early 1990's, Fannie Mae mainly insured mortgages held by other investors against default, an unglamorous but steadily profitable business.