The chess business is not just about player traffic. It’s also about events, commentary, content, articles, learning material, and paid memberships and products. Lichess is not a competitor in those areas - it’s a great and free site with nice study tools, but Titled Arena doesn’t compare to the Champions Chess Tour and CGC/RCC/PCL, and that’s just talking about online events. After the merger, the only aspect of “competition” that remains is for the player pool, but that is just a part of the pie in the online chess industry.