I had it explained to me once. Its based on the idea that the rise in the value of the physical or salable assets exceeds that of the losses in trading. Often the brand itself become an asset of value where its name is attached to unrelated products. I think that the mighty Trumpton himself values his name at about $3Billion and increases that figure from time to time to cover for the losses elsewhere. It a good racket that usually falls apart after death such as what happened when "Captain" Bob Maxwell fell off his yacht leaving his offspring with a massive pile of debt as will likely happen to Trump's offspring.