American International Group Inc. is getting more help from taxpayers after recording a fourth straight quarterly loss, Bloomberg reported.

The U.S. government will reduce the original $85 billion loan that saved AIG in September to $60 billion, buy $40 billion of preferred shares, and purchase $52.5 billion of mortgage securities owned or backed by the company, the Federal Reserve said today.

The insurer lost a record $24.5 billion, or $9.05 a share, in the third quarter, compared with a profit of $3.09 billion, or $1.19 per share, a year earlier, AIG said in a statement.

Taxpayers will take on more risk to give CEO Edward Liddy time to salvage AIG, which needed government help to escape bankruptcy in September after incurring at least $40 billion in quarterly losses tied to home mortgages. Liddy’s plan to repay the original loan by selling units of the company stalled as plunging financial markets cut into their value and forced potential buyers to shore up their own balance sheets.

The new bailout plan will require a freeze on the bonus pool for 70 top AIG executives and imposes limits on severance benefits, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

The insurer booked $7.05 billion in write-downs during the quarter on the value of credit-default swaps — guarantees AIG sold to protect fixed-income investors — and marked down other holdings by $18.3 billion before taxes.

AIG said it is shutting down its securities lending program, which accounted for $11.7 billion, or about two-thirds, of $18.3 billion in impaired investments.

The government’s original rescue package was disclosed on Sept. 16, a day after investment bank Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. was allowed to collapse.

The Federal Reserve concluded then that AIG’s failure would “add to already significant levels of financial market fragility.”

The company said today in a federal filing that it might not survive.