On March 26, Xie Xin, CEO of ByteDance’s Lark (also known as Feishu), sent a letter to all employees announcing a new round of organizational adjustments and appropriate downsizing. A Lark representative confirmed this news Chinese media Yicai Global.
The letter revealed that while the business has made certain breakthroughs, the team also identified issues within the organization: the team size is relatively large, but the organization is not lean enough. Everyone has felt a decrease in efficiency and a lack of focus, which is not conducive to long-term business development.
Xie Xin stated that after repeated discussions and very careful decisions, the team decided to make some adjustments and appropriately streamline the team size. Regrettably, some colleagues will have to leave as a result. At the same time, the team will provide support for those affected, offering compensation plans or opportunities for job transfers to help them transition smoothly.
Xie Xin believes that this adjustment is not only about resizing the team but more importantly, it’s about returning to the Day 1 state of a startup—more focused direction, more efficient organization, and a more combat-ready team. A leaner organization will enhance business sustainability and thereby strengthen long-term guarantees for customers. Only continuous, high-quality input can do a good job in B2B business and serve a broader customer base.
It is understood that the adjustment involves over a thousand people, aiming to address the so-called “inefficiency” problem Xie Xin mentioned. Previously, the outside world had questioned the large scale of the Lark team, and Xie Xin had refuted media rumors, including Yicai Global, saying that he was “surprised” by the numbers of 8,000 or 10,000 people, stating, “we have never had so many people”. But Xie Xin also admitted that the Lark team does have several thousand members. Lark has the largest investment, the most determination, and the most patience in China in this regard, because they see the potential of the SaaS industry.
The large team size has not directly led to equivalent income. Instead, Xie Xin emphasizes ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue). Previously, Lark announced an ARR of over 100 million USD in 2022 and over 200 million USD in 2023. Xie Xin stated that there is too much talk about DAU (Daily Active Users) and too little about ARR in China’s enterprise service market. The more DAUs, the higher the cost.
However, the ROI (Return on Investment) obtained by dividing the ARR of 200 million USD by the total number of Lark employees is not ideal. Xie Xin stated that TikTok within the group has the highest income, but different types of businesses need to be considered based on their characteristics. Lark requires long-term, strong, and continuous investment. Although the ROI is not high, it also shows the group’s different levels of investment and patience for this matter.
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