WhyteGold, the online private members club whose members include royalty, members of the billionaire rich list and parliamentaries has this week announced that they have built the most advanced by-invitation-only system on the internet.

A 12 step sign up process ensures the legitimacy of each application and restrictions are further imposed by manual checks on each member throughout their membership with WhyteGold.

Joining is free, however you are invited to contribute to the charitable events held throughout the year.

BMW released an unexpected preliminary earnings release showing that the Munich-based company made a €330m net profit, down 90% from 2007.

The car maker’s total production fell by 78% during 2008 producing 1.44m cars. The statement cited bad debts, one off costs and risk provision costs on used car markets.

Company chief executive Norbert Reithofer claimed that the economic downturn has given the company an opportunity to strengthen at an operating level.