By Adam Geller
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Just two weeks after being named to the top job at AOL Time Warner Inc., Richard Parsons is showing shareholders how he'll play the lead: with cautious realism and a deliberate absence of bold promises.

AOL Time Warner executives conceded Wednesday what many investors have long felt when the company announced a staggering $45.5 billion charge against earnings to account for its plunging value.

But in taking the enormous write-down - one that was more than double what some observers expected - the company and Parsons moved to clear AOL's financial decks, analysts said Thursday.

The whopping loss largely obscured quarterly results that were relatively strong for many of the company's traditional media businesses. But in looking ahead, Parsons spoke in vaguely upbeat but cautious tones and tried not to fan false hopes.

Parsons is "going to really focus on making the most of what they have and trying to reset expectations to be reasonable and achievable, not trying to overpromise and underdeliver," said analyst James Goss of Barrington Research Associates.

By doing so, Parsons - who was named president in May and chairman this month, a title he will formally assume in May - is gaining time, analysts said. In effect, he is letting the air out of remaining expectations harbored by angry investors, who are being told to expect nothing more than gradual improvement.

"I think people are starting to finally realize it's going to take more time to get this fixed than perhaps they had previously thought," said Tom Wolzien, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.