Less than a year after launching in the town, Ballantine Communications has persuaded Gannett to sell the incumbent Farmington Daily Times.

Ballantine – which owns the Durango Herald and The Journal in Southwest Colorado – has reached an agreement to purchase the New Mexico paper, where it already owns the Tri-City Record, and will merge the two in June, “to strengthen local news coverage” across the county. Readers will get three printed editions a week of what publisher John Blais called “the plucky startup”, instead of six of the Times.

Gannett local news vice president Michael Anastasi said the company’s mission was to empower and enrich communities across the country. “Our business decisions are driven by our commitment to best serve them.”

He thanked readers and advertisers for their support through the years and thanked employees for their dedication and hard work.

The Daily Times began in 1890 as the Junction City Times, and has merged and changed ownership several times since then. After a period as the Times-Hustler, it became the Farmington Daily Times around the 1950s when it began publishing daily. Gannett purchased the paper in 2015.

With the merger, the Daily Times will continue under the banner of the Tri-City Record, which BCI launched as a tri-weekly in May 2023, and conform to that frequency.

Dirks, Van Essen & April, who are based in Santa Fe, represented Gannett, with Cribb Cope & Potts representing the Ballantine family.