How do holding companies work?
 

You make a bunch of money with a company whos business model might be more volatile (subject to regulations, fines, lawsuits etc) and somehow, legally, xfer large portions of the volatile companies profits to another company... for...erm...holding?

Sounds more like laundering to me - holding company has many purposes; when you own multiple corporations, you can just farm them all under a holding company (usually a numbered company if you're looking for some "hard to trace in the public eye" shit) - the holding company assumes 100% ownership of all the sub corporations. The finances from there on out can get tricky and it will really depend on where you register your holding company's corporation. If you're in the US, register it in Delaware and you'll have some lax laws when it comes to transfering funds. :2 cents: