LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. — On Monday, DealerTrack announced a realignment of its work force, which includes reducing the work force by approximately 90 people, or 8 percent, in addition to trimming several executive and senior-level positions.

The company currently anticipates annualized salary savings of approximately $7 million from these reductions. DealerTrack indicated that it also plans to continue to invest in those areas that are still showing strong growth despite the challenging economy.

"The continued decline in U.S. car sales and the number of vehicles financed, together with the uncertain outlook for 2009, necessitated an adjustment in our current expense levels," explained Mark O'Neil, chairman and chief executive officer of DealerTrack.

"The goal of this realignment is to make DealerTrack a leaner and more focused company and to facilitate growth and continued expansion of the business," he added.

The company expects to incur a restructuring charge in the first quarter of 2009 of between $6.8 and $7.8 million on a pre-tax basis, including approximately $3.5 to $4 million of net non-cash compensation expense.

In connection with this realignment, the company is announcing a number of executive changes. Robert Cox, senior vice president and chief financial officer, will be leaving the company after its annual report on form 10-K is filed in February.

Furthermore, David Trinder, senior vice president of Network Solutions, has left the company and Charles Giglia, senior vice president and chief information officer, will move to a non-executive role, officials said.

Continuing on, the company announced that Eric Jacobs has been appointed senior vice president and chief administrative officer and will also become chief financial officer upon Cox's departure.

Jacobs was formerly the company's senior vice president and general counsel. Prior to becoming an attorney, he was also an audit manager and CPA at KPMG LLP.

In other related news, Richard McLeer has been named senior vice president and chief information officer. Previously, McLeer was senior vice president of strategy and development.

"All product design, development and support, including our ALG and Chrome businesses, have been consolidated under Raj Sundaram, senior vice president of product management and customer support," the company reported in its statement.

Moreover, executives said lender and dealer sales, marketing, DealerTrack Digital Services and DealerTrack Canada have been consolidated under Rick Von Pusch, senior vice president of sales, marketing and international. Additionally, Gary Papilsky has been promoted to vice president and general counsel.

"The changes we are making are necessary to keep DealerTrack nimble, preserve our leadership position in the industry and continue to build on our successes," pointed out O'Neil.

"I thank Bob, David, Charlie and our other affected employees for their valuable contributions to the company and wish them success in their future endeavors," he continued.

Additional information regarding organizational design and the long-term positioning of the business will be made available on the Feb. 19, 2008 results and 2009 forecast investor conference call, officials concluded.