BofA To Divulge Legal Advice

In what the New York Times calls a “stunning reversal,” Bank of America’s (BAC) board has decided to reveal the legal advice that the bank received around the time of its merger with Merrill Lynch. The disclosures may make known the guidance that the bank received from its longtime law firm, and thus reveal “fresh evidence” of the role that various lawyers and executives played in failing to reveal losses at Merrill Lynch and bonuses Merrill paid out before the merger. This could be a strategic move in an attempt to exonerate several executives, including the bank’s retiring chief, Ken Lewis. Up until this point, the bank has cited privacy rules to keep these conversations concealed. A law professor asked about the situation told the WSJ, "This is going to get to the down-and-dirty question of what counsel did say and did not say, what counsel meant and did not mean."

The Obama administration will hold off on a plan to raise more than $200 billion in new taxes on multinational companies following  “a blitz of complaints from businesses,” says the Wall Street Journal. Supporters of the plan are critics of a certain provision in the U.S. tax code that, they say, encourages companies to avoid U.S. taxes by increasing production abroad. Businesses argue that the provision in question makes them more competitive globally. Though the plan was to scrap the provision sometime next year, it seems that the business community’s campaign against the change has been successful. That’s a decision, the article says, that “suggests that an administration that was critical of business at the height of the financial crisis is becoming more accommodating.”

Two Americans have won the Nobel Prize in economics, the Washington Post reports. Oliver Williamson, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley, and Elinor Ostrom, a political economist at Indiana University who is also the first woman to win, will split the $1.4 million award. Williamson has studied the organization of businesses and has looked into why certain business relationships last longer than others. Ostrom's research deals with the "tragedy of the commons," that notion the public land will be overused and become less valuable over time. The paper notes that both recipients work does not deal directly with the global financial crisis: “Instead of honoring scholars who had done ground-breaking work in finance or macroeconomics, built around abstract mathematical models, they gave the award to researchers whose work is solidly grounded in the real world.”

According to Reuters, Google (GOOG) announced yesterday that Arthur Levinson—an Apple (AAPL) director since 2004—has resigned from the search giant’s board “in a move that appears to defuse regulatory scrutiny into the ties between the boards of Google and Apple.” The resignation comes about two months after Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, left Apple’s board and as the FTC looks into whether or not what have been called "interlocking directorates" between the two tech companies “raise competitive issues.”

From discount to luxury retailers, stores are increasingly using gift-card gimmicks to entice shoppers and boost holiday sales, says the Wall Street Journal. Gift cards are moneymakers for retailers because the recipients often buy full-priced items and spend more than the cards are worth in stores. So it's worth the effort to get them circulating. This year, Neiman Marcus is offering thousands of free $50 cards, and Target (TGT) will give out cards worth $10 to shoppers who spend at least $100 before noon the day after Thanksgiving. The paper explains, “By turning the cards into promotions that attract shoppers before the holidays, stores are augmenting their longtime strategy of selling gift cards as a service to harried relatives and friends.”

Finally, the New York Times reports that Disney (DIS) “intends to drastically overhaul its approach to the shopping mall.” It’s undertaking a “floor-to-ceiling reboot” of its 340 stores in the United States and Europe in addition to opening new ones. The new stores may be rebranded as “Imagination Park” in an attempt to channel the atmosphere of Disney theme parks. The new strategy is a risk an unsettled retail climate and one in which the shopping mall seems to be losing its relevance. “The world does not need another place to sell Disney merchandise—this only works if it’s an experience,” the president of Disney Stores Worldwide told the paper. Disney plans to debut the new look for the stores this May in Southern California, Long Island, Madrid, and, possibly, Times Square.