- If lawyers for a defendant are going to settle (we generally prefer not to), we often want a portfolio license -- a "go away" license. By splitting up the patents among entities and keeping itself hidden, an entity like MAVEXAR can keep filing serial suits against the same targets and can keep receiving more expensive "global" settlements.

- It dodges liability for attorneys fees, since the entities have little or no money, and may decrease the chances of a fee award generally.

- It means that the entity with the patent has little or no discoverable information, decreasing the cost of suit because there is nothing to produce. Lawyers for that entity can also take stronger discovery positions because there is no concern about about responsive discovery.

These are litigation funding exercises, so the goal is protection of the "investors".

But you'd also get things like protection against discovery (the smaller entity has nothing to give you), etc.

This is the sort of thing where they go too far, and end up in jail despite thinking they're just good at playing the system. (see, e.g., prenda law)

That changes things beyond just liability - it also makes it appear judgement proof. And the dollar amounts indicate that companies may just settle because there’s nothing to win by a counter suit.