Actually you just kind of convinced me of the opposite -- that there was nothing nefarious with Google+. Clearly these companies have a track record of getting out of non-core businesses where they don't have expertise and/or don't have much to gain.
Google buying up affiliate networks and shutting them down is just plain consolidation of monopoly -- not conspiracy to divide up the market like the other actions. (It still deserves antitrust scrutiny, but for wholly different reasons.)
And weekly or bi-weekly dinners? Conspirators go to great lengths to have legitimate pretenses for any meetings. Trade shows are/were notorious for where these cartels get business done because everyone has a legitimate interest to be there. You also want plausible deniability.
Google buying up affiliate networks and shutting them down is just plain consolidation of monopoly -- not conspiracy to divide up the market like the other actions. (It still deserves antitrust scrutiny, but for wholly different reasons.)
And weekly or bi-weekly dinners? Conspirators go to great lengths to have legitimate pretenses for any meetings. Trade shows are/were notorious for where these cartels get business done because everyone has a legitimate interest to be there. You also want plausible deniability.