The NY Times is also part of what is widely considered a sunset industry, even with its online properties. It's not implausible for companies in sunrise industries to become more valuable than the NY Times in the future, even if their revenue models are not yet clear.
print is a sunset industry. news is not. the ny times is about news, hence the apps and online deals they have.
and just in case you think that's not enough, it's more of a revenue model than instagram had.