San Francisco - An unidentified 18-year-old was the author of an internet posting that sent Apple shares tumbling earlier this month with a false report that company co-founder Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into the report to discover whether it was motivated by investors hoping to drive down the company's stock and make a profit by short- selling it.

No further information was issued on the identity of the blogger who posted the false information on CNN's iReport "citizen journalist" web site. But Bloomberg said that investigators found no evidence that the suspect attempted to profit from the sharp drop in Apple's stock.

"Steve Jobs was rushed to the ER just a few hours ago after suffering a major heart attack," the false report said. "I have an insider who tells me that paramedics were called after Steve claimed to be suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath. My source has opted to remain anonymous, but he is quite reliable. I haven't seen anything about this anywhere else yet, and as of right now, I have no further information, so I thought this would be a good place to start. If anyone else has more information, please share it." dpa