Buying Activision Blizzard means they are still third in the console space. Just not so far behind the others.
You are also misqjoting out of context. One executive suggested it was a path to spend now in order to gain footbold later. They would still need to spend a lot more to get there.
I have been completely unable to find a reasonably featured Windows reader since Nexgenreader stopped development. I deleted my Windows install on my 2-in-1 to get Newsflash in Linux instead. I also saw Feedreader in the repository which looks promising, but I haven't tested it yet. On Android I like FeedMe, but there are other good options. On iOS I am all-in on Reeder. I use Miniflux as backend (I pay for it so I don't have to bother with hosting myself) so I can mix and match any client that can connect to that.