The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition BlackBerry plans to buy back up to 12 million shares, or 2.6 per cent of its public float, to offset a new employee share purchase plan. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says the employee stock plan, which will increase the amount of shares available for compensation, will be presented for approval at the company's annual general meeting on June 23. "We intend to take advantage of our strong cash position to purchase our shares when the market price does not reflect what we view to be the underlying value and future prospects of our business," chief executive officer John Chen said in a statement. BlackBerry plans to buy the shares within the next 12 months on both the Nasdaq Stock Market and the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company said it has not repurchased any outstanding securities in the past 12 months. Mr. Chen, since taking over in November, 2013, has been diversifying the company, with the goal of doubling software revenue to $500-million by next March. Several top employees have left the company in the past year, including Jeff Gadway, former director of enterprise product marketing. BlackBerry closed Thursday at $12.54, up 21 cents on the TSX.