Coeur d’Alene Mines buying back stock

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. will spend up to $100 million to buy back shares of the company’s common stock.

Based on a recent price of $18.95 per share, the program could purchase 5.3 million shares of common stock, or nearly 6 percent of the company’s outstanding shares, officials said.

President and CEO Mitchell Krebs said the stock buyback program would return capital to shareholders, while still allowing the company to invest in opportunities to grow its mining operations.

Probe follows bankruptcy filing

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s troubled video gaming company, lured to Rhode Island with a $75 million state loan guarantee two years ago, filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday, and federal authorities have begun an investigation into it.

The filing by Providence-based 38 Studios, which laid off its staff last month, was made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, where the company is incorporated as a limited liability corporation. Its sister operation in Baltimore also filed for bankruptcy.

The Rhode Island company owes $150.7 million and listed its assets at $21.7 million, according to court filings. 38 Studios Baltimore owes more than $121.4 million and has assets of more than $335,000, the filings show.

iPhone enters prepaid market

NEW YORK – Virgin Mobile USA, one of Sprint’s brands for prepaid, no-contract phone service, said Thursday it will start selling the iPhone on June 29, charging $549 for a basic model.

The high price of the phone comes with an upside: Service will start at $30 per month.

That means the phone, plus two years of service, will cost $1,269, excluding taxes. That’s nearly $800 less than a subscriber would pay for the same phone, an iPhone 4 with 8 gigabytes of memory, if buying it under the Sprint Nextel Corp. brand. Sprint charges $100 for the phone and $80 per month for service, excluding taxes.