The problems plaguing newspaper companies are well known. Readers have ditched print for digital, causing circulation and advertising revenue to plummet.

The New York Times rolled out an online pay system last year to tap subscribers using digital mediums to read newspapers.

Paid digital subscribers of The Times and the International Herald Tribune rose 20 percent sequentially to about 390,000.

The New York Times digital subscription strategy also beefed up its circulation revenue, which rose 5 percent to $241.6 million in the fourth quarter.

However, digital advertising revenue fell 5 percent to $95.7 million as higher revenue at the News Media Group were more than offset by declines at the About Group.

About Group revenue fell more than a quarter to $26.1 million as both cost-per-click and display advertising declined.

Advertising revenue fell 7 percent to $358.5 million. 

The company expects total advertising revenue trends in the first quarter to be similar to the fourth-quarter levels.

New York Times Co. expects total circulation revenue to increase in the high-single digits in the first quarter.

The company started 2012 without a CEO or a digital boss.

Long-term Chief Executive Janet Robinson, who steered the New York Times Co. through one of the harshest business environments it has ever faced, stepped down last December.

Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has taken up the job in the interim as the company continues its search for a replacement for Robinson.

Robinson’s departure coincided with the retirement of Martin Nisenholtz, its longtime digital leader.

The company saw fourth-quarter net income fell to $58.9 million, or 39 cents a share, from $67.1 million, or 44 cents a share, a year ago. 

Excluding items, it earned 45 cents a share on a continuing basis.

Revenue fell 3 percent to $642.9 million. 

Analysts expected earnings of 41 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $646.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company have gained more than 30 percent in value in about three months.