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The business-oriented social networking service LinkedIn is going to buy lynda.com, privately held online education company, for about $1.5bn. The education company provides courses in many languages aimed at improving technology, business and creative skills. According to the company’s website, subscription fees for the company’s course range between $250 and $375 a year.

LinkedIn, which has been headquartered in Mountain View, California, has decided to expand its services for audiences of professional users. LinkedIn also has its European headquarters in Dublin. The new deal will allow users to know what skills are required to get jobs in desired city, according to Ryan Roslansky, who is head of content in LinkedIn.

Research firm Gartner said that personal computer shipments worldwide have dropped during the first quarter compared to the shipments for the previous year.

The research firm revealed that PC shipments that totaled 71.7 million units during the Jan-March period have declined by about 5.2 % from the same period last year.

The data showed the lowest number of PC shipments since the second quarter of 2009. The decline during the March quarter happened mainly by change in consumption habits of a generation of data-hungry technology customers who use smartphones, tablets and hybrid notebooks.

US bank earnings have been supported by mortgage lending in the first quarter as lower rates led to an increase in applications to refinance home loans. This is good news for the sector that has struggled with weak growth for the past many quarters.

There were probably other factors offering boost for the biggest US banks in the first quarter, together with higher underwriting revenue and bond trading. The big banks begin reporting for the quarter next week. On Tuesday, Wells Fargo & Co and JPMorgan Chase & Co started reporting.

On Wednesday, Amazon filed a lawsuit in King County court claiming that three websites are illegally selling reviews on its website.

Companies offer to post positive reviews on items being sold on Amazon. The rate differs like one company sells three reviews for $74 and another company offers 200 reviews for $3,400.

As per Amazon, the companies have been violating federal and state Consumer Protections acts. Not only the lawsuit has claimed that the websites are posting fake views, but they are also violating Amazon’s trademark and are providing false advertising.

According to official data, China's consumer inflation remained unchanged at 1.4% last month and producer prices dropped slightly less than anticipated.

It has been predicted by analysts polled by Reuters that March consumer price index (CPI) will be at 1.3% than 1.4% posted the previous month. As per experts, the producer price index (PPI) decreased 4.6%.

Consortium led by Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo & Co is close to strike the deal to purchase $30 billion real estate portfolio from General Electric Co, said a person familiar with the matter.

Since Blackstone's acquisition of office landlord Equity Office Properties Trust in 2007, this will be the biggest commercial real estate deal. According to source, the deal could be announced as early as Friday. As per the source, the deal is not yet public. Both GE and Blackstone have not said anything related to this matter.

"We're in that sweet spot of 2007 when there's a lot of money, commercial real estate looks really attractive, and you could do some mega deals”, said Ken Riggs, president of Situs RERC, a firm conducting commercial real estate valuations.