Keeping a newspaper afloat in the digital economy is difficult. Leading a newspaper to quadruple its market value in the digital economy is almost unthinkable. However, this is exactly what The New York Times Company CEO Mark Thompson has done.

The Times' — a publicly traded company — has grown its stock value by over 300% since Thompson took control in 2012 and at a time when countless other city papers across the country have closed. The key, Thompson said, is centered around a business strategy that he says "very few people" in the industry are following.

"Our model is a very simple model which is we should invest in great content," Thompson said at CNBC's Evolve event Wednesday in New York City. "The future of journalism is make more journalism ... and then figure out smart ways to put that in front of people and asking them to support that journalism."

Shares of the Times have risen over 200% since Trump was elected.

Thompson said this new strategy makes The New York Times comparable to a company like Netflix while competing newspapers focus far too much on cutting costs.

The circumstances facing the company when Thompson took over in November 2012 were bleak. Quarterly advertising revenue had fallen 9% and net income was down over 80% as compared to the prior year. The stock price fell 22% on the announcement.

To combat these headwinds, Thompson immediately organized the newspaper's print products and services, the company's hallmark, as a separate division. This allowed Thompson to instill a new vision for The Times.

"We said we're going to focus mainly on building our digital subscription business," Thompson said, a massive cultural shift for the company.