Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has tapped a 39-year-old hedge fund manager to potentially be his investment successor at Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK).

Todd Combs, who was the manager of a small hedge fund in Connecticut called Castle Point Capital for the past five years, will join Berkshire initially as an investment manager for Buffett's company, handling a portion of Berkshire's $100 billion investment portfolio. 

It's a major promotion for Combs, who reportedly had about $400 million in assets under management at his fund. 

"For three years Charlie Munger and I have been looking for someone of Todd's caliber to handle a significant portion of Berkshire's investment portfolio," Buffett said in a statement. "We are delighted that Todd will be joining us."

Combs' investment philosophy is reportedly not perfectly in sync with Buffett's buy-and-hold investment philosophy. According to The Wall Street Journal, Combs' fund did both traditional buying and holding strategies as well as selling short, a tactic not typically used by Buffett. 

According to the Journal, Combs had earned a cumulative return of 34% since his fund launched in 2005. 

While Berkshire's corporate office is small, the company fully owns some of the nation's well-known companies including GEICO insurance, See's Candy and Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad.