Warren Buffett told investors in March he 'hit the jackpot' hiring two former hedge-fund managers to help run Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s investing business.

Todd Combs and Ted Weschler likely feel the same way. Each stands to make at least $27 million -- and probably much more -- in bonuses for 2012, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of company data and Mr. Buffett's public comments.

The payouts reflect the double-digit percentage gains in both managers' investment portfolios above the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. The sums are a fraction of what some hedge-fund titans make, but they catapult Messrs. Combs and Weschler into the ranks of highly paid U.S. public-company employees.

The figures illustrate Berkshire's willingness to pay for performance. Mr. Buffett has been an outspoken critic of compensation that isn't based on beating specific, realistic targets. Mr. Buffett, whose 21% economic stake in Berkshire is valued at more than $50 billion at recent market prices, draws $100,000 in annual salary as chief executive and receives no bonus.

Messrs. Combs and Weschler declined to comment.

In the pay formula, similar to one devised in the 1980s by Mr. Buffett for a Berkshire investmentmanager who retired in 2010, the two managers each year are eligible to receive as bonuses 10% of the amount by which their portfolios exceed the return on the S&P 500.

The bonuses are to be paid over three years. Unpaid amounts will be cut if returns fall short in the second or third year. A fifth of each manager's bonus depends on the other manager's performance -- a structure meant to encouragecooperation rather than competition.

Each manager began last year with a portfolio of $1.75 billion. The sum rose to $2.75 billion in March and to about $4 billion in July, reflecting the cash position at Berkshire and the managers' performance. Each portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 by 'double-digit margins,' Mr. Buffett wrote in his March letter -- meaning a return of at least 10 percentage points above the index's 2012 return of 16%, including dividends.

'They left me in the dust as well,' Mr. Buffett wrote.

Berkshire's book value per share -- the measure of net worth that Mr. Buffett prefers as a yardstick to earnings, which he views as too volatile and subject to the whims of accounting rule makers -- increased 14% in 2012.

Berkshire shares have performed strongly amid a broad financial-market rally over the past year, rising 31% compared with a 14% gain in the S&P 500.

On a $2.75 billion portfolio with a 26% return, each manager could expect to earn at least $27.5 million each in bonus pay. On $4 billion of assets showing similar above-market returns, they would be eligible for a bonus of $40 million.

Mr. Buffett has said each manager is paid a base salary of about $1 million. This past March each man received an additional $1 billion to manage.

Both men are expected to take a larger role in overseeing the company's investments in coming years.

Berkshire has identified internally, but not publicly named, another person as the top candidate to take over for Mr. Buffett when he gives up the CEO role, a move that isn't expected to be imminent.