The New York Times Co. has met its target of 10 million subscriptions three years ahead of schedule thanks to its purchase of The Athletic, a win for the newspaper that has staked its future on the success of its digital business. The Times gained more than a million subscriptions in its $550 million deal for the sports news website that closed earlier this week, swelling its already 8.8 million strong subscription base at the end of 2021. About 375,000 of those were added in the last three months of the year when people turned to its website and app for games, cooking recipes, and news on the Omicron variant’s global surge. The 170-year-old newspaper said on Wednesday it was now targeting at least 15 million subscriptions by the end of 2027, a goal it hopes to achieve with the help of acquisitions like the Wordle deal. Its shift to …