LinkedIn eyes newsletters and AI jobs

LinkedIn is exploring two adjacent businesses at once: owning more professional publishing and selling more human labor for artificial intelligence training. (quasa.io) (businessinsider.com) One report published April 14 said LinkedIn had quietly explored buying beehiiv in late 2025, though neither company has confirmed talks. A separate April 14 report said LinkedIn is testing an “AI labor marketplace” with listings for experts who help refine chatbots. (quasa.io) (businessinsider.com) The publishing side is about newsletters, which are email products people subscribe to directly instead of finding through a social feed. Beehiiv said publishers on its platform reached more than 255 million unique readers and sent 28 billion emails last year. (beehiiv.com) The labor side is about “human-in-the-loop” work, where people label data, rate answers, and correct model mistakes so artificial intelligence systems improve. Business Insider said LinkedIn’s test includes roles in coding, finance, and other specialties paying as much as $150 an hour. (businessinsider.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Both ideas fit LinkedIn’s existing business. The company already sells recruiting tools, runs a large professional publishing network, and has been adding more artificial intelligence features to job search and recruiting since 2024. (techcrunch.com) Beehiiv has become a larger target in that market. The company raised a $33 million Series B round in April 2024, and TechCrunch reported this month that it crossed 50,000 active users after what chief executive Tyler Denk called its best quarter yet. (businesswire.com) (techcrunch.com) Beehiiv is also pushing beyond newsletters into podcasting and advertising tools, while pitching creators on keeping 100 percent of subscription revenue instead of giving a platform cut. That model puts it in direct competition with Substack, Patreon, and any platform that wants creators to publish inside a walled garden. (techcrunch.com) (pressgazette.co.uk) On the jobs side, LinkedIn would be entering a market already served by specialist firms such as Surge AI and Mercor, according to Business Insider. Axios reported in January 2025 that artificial-intelligence roles were the fastest-growing jobs in LinkedIn’s own “Jobs on the Rise” data. (businessinsider.com) (axios.com) Neither reported move is final, and the beehiiv talks may never become a deal. But together they point in the same direction: LinkedIn wants more of the work professionals do on the internet, whether that work is writing for an audience or training the systems that will read it. (quasa.io) (businessinsider.com)