Hendersonville Lightning

Local Newspaperhendersonvillelightning.com

Hendersonville Lightning is an independently owned weekly newspaper and 24/7 news website founded in 2012, serving Henderson County and Western North Carolina residents with print and digital subscriptions plus local advertising.

Company typePrivate
Founded2012
HeadquartersHendersonville, United States
Headcount1–10
GTM typeB2C
OfferingDigital Commerce or Content

What Hendersonville Lightning does

Hendersonville Lightning is an independently owned, award-winning weekly newspaper and 24/7 news website serving Henderson County and surrounding Western North Carolina communities. Founded in 2012 by Bill Moss, who serves as Founder, Editor & Publisher, the publication maintains editorial coverage of local politics, business, sports, dining, entertainment, obituaries, opinion, and community events across ten named sub-markets including Hendersonville, Mills River, Fletcher, Flat Rock, Laurel Park, Edneyville, Etowah, Green River, and Saluda. Print editions are published weekly on Wednesdays and delivered to subscriber homes via U.S. mail on Thursdays, with additional geographic delivery surcharges for non-Henderson County addresses.

The company operates a dual print/digital product portfolio. Subscriptions are sold in annual or multi-year tiers: Print+Digital at $69.99/year (1-year), $109.99 (2-year), and $149.99 (3-year), with a Digital-Only option at $59.99/year. The 24/7 website provides breaking news, full article access, and structured sections for Politics, Business, Sports, Obituaries, Opinion, Life, Legal Ads, and Classifieds. Distribution extends across the website, mobile-optimized views, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, RSS, and a free Daily Headlines email newsletter. No mobile app exists.

Revenue is generated from two primary streams: recurring print and digital subscriptions and a diversified local advertising book spanning display ads, classifieds, marketplace listings, and statutory legal advertising. Legal advertising functions as a structurally protected revenue line tied to the publication's role as a newspaper of record in Henderson County. The business operates with 1-10 employees, has no disclosed investors, no parent company, no acquisitions or funding history, and is not subject to public market disclosure requirements, reflecting a micro-scale independent media operation.

Hendersonville Lightning firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Hendersonville Lightning
Legal name: Hendersonville Lightning
Website: https://hendersonvillelightning.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 2012
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 1–10 employees
Short description: Hendersonville Lightning is an independently owned weekly newspaper and 24/7 news website founded in 2012, serving Henderson County and Western North Carolina residents with print and digital subscriptions plus local advertising.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Hendersonville Lightning industry classification

Industry

Product category: Local Newspaper
NAICS: Newspaper Publishers (513110), Newspaper Publishers (51311)
SIC: Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)
akta.pro primary industry: Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

Local newspaper
Weekly print edition
Digital news subscription
Community journalism
Local advertising

Where Hendersonville Lightning is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Hendersonville
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

Hendersonville Lightning business model

Business model

GTM type: B2C
Offering type: Digital Commerce or Content
Cost components: Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

Print and Digital Subscriptions: Weekly newspaper with print and digital subscription tiers delivered via U.S. mail on Thursdays
Advertising: Local advertising including display ads, classifieds, and marketplace listings
Classifieds and Legal Ads: Revenue from classifieds and legal advertising sections

Pricing tiers

Model	Billing	Price
Subscription	Annual	Print + Digital Subscription - 1 Year
Subscription	Multi-year contract	Print + Digital Subscription - 2 Year
Subscription	Multi-year contract	Print + Digital Subscription - 3 Year
Subscription	Annual	Digital Only Subscription

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Hendersonville Lightning product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Hendersonville Lightning publishes a weekly print newspaper and operates a 24/7 local news website covering Henderson County and surrounding Western North Carolina communities. It delivers hyper-local journalism across politics, business, sports, dining, obituaries, opinion, and community events, monetized primarily through subscription fees and local advertising (display, classifieds, and legal notices).

Product overview

Hendersonville Lightning is a traditional local newspaper offering a single unified product portfolio centered on community journalism. The core offerings consist of a weekly print newspaper (published Wednesdays, delivered by mail Thursdays) and a 24/7 digital news website. These are available through two subscription tiers: Print + Digital (starting at $69.99/year) and Digital-only (with $10 discount). Supporting services include legal advertising, classifieds, a community events calendar, and a local business marketplace. The publication covers Henderson County including local politics, business, sports, obituaries, opinion, life features, and dining/entertainment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

Hendersonville Lightning Print Edition Weekly print newspaper covering Henderson County news, politics, business, sports, dining, obituaries, opinion, and community events, delivered to subscribers via U.S. mail on Thursdays.
Hendersonville Lightning Digital Edition 24/7 online news website providing breaking news, public affairs, local politics, commentary, business, dining, and entertainment coverage with free daily headlines.
Print + Digital Subscription Combined print and digital subscription offering full access to both the weekly print edition and 24/7 online content, with 1-, 2-, and 3-year pricing tiers starting at $69.99 per year.
Digital-Only Subscription Online-only access to the 24/7 website and digital content, priced at $59.99 per year with a $10 discount versus the print + digital rate.
Legal Ads

Companies that use Hendersonville Lightning

Customer profile

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Hendersonville Lightning technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Hendersonville Lightning partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Hendersonville Lightning competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Others

Nextdoor: A neighborhood-level social network used heavily in suburban and small-town communities for local news, recommendations, and small-business promotion. Functions as an indirect substitute and competitor for local news readership and small-business ad attention in Henderson County.

Emerging players

Patch.com: A national hyperlocal digital-only news network operating community pages for individual towns and counties, including Hendersonville-area pages. Represents the digital-only emerging model that competes with Lightning for local readers and small-business advertisers at zero subscription cost.

Direct peers

The Transylvania Times: A weekly community newspaper covering Transylvania County, NC, immediately adjacent to Henderson County. Operates the same weekly print-plus-digital subscription model in a comparable small WNC county market, serving as the closest structural peer.
Black Mountain News: A weekly community newspaper serving Black Mountain and eastern Buncombe County, NC. Operates the same small-town weekly news model with print and digital editions, providing local coverage that overlaps with Lightning's regional audience.
Smoky Mountain News: A weekly newspaper covering Haywood, Jackson, and Macon counties in Western North Carolina. Highly comparable in format (weekly print + digital) and in serving a small-mountain-county audience with local politics, business, and lifestyle coverage.
Mountain Xpress: An Asheville-based weekly alternative news publication covering Buncombe County and greater Western NC. Direct format peer (weekly print + digital) competing for overlapping regional readers and advertisers in the WNC media market.

Regional players

Tryon Daily Bulletin: A small daily newspaper covering Polk County, NC — directly across the border from Henderson County. Highly comparable small-market community paper, providing a regional structural peer even though its primary footprint does not overlap Hendersonville.

Broad incumbents

Gannett Co. The largest U.S. newspaper chain (USA TODAY Network) and parent of the Asheville Citizen-Times. Represents the structural broad incumbent competing for local ad and subscription dollars across Western North Carolina.
Lee Enterprises: A large multi-state newspaper chain with titles across the Southeast and Midwest. Serves as a broad incumbent in the local/community newspaper space and a potential acquirer or roll-up consolidator of independent weeklies like the Lightning.
Asheville Citizen-Times (Gannett): The dominant daily newspaper for the Asheville metro and surrounding WNC region, owned by Gannett. It is the closest broad incumbent competitor, covering overlapping territory with a daily news cycle and substantially larger newsroom resources.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Hendersonville Lightning financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Hendersonville Lightning leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Hendersonville Lightning funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Hendersonville Lightning M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hendersonville Lightning

What does Hendersonville Lightning do?

Is Hendersonville Lightning a public or private company?

Hendersonville Lightning is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.

When was Hendersonville Lightning founded?

Hendersonville Lightning was founded in 2012. It employs 1 to 10 people.

Where is Hendersonville Lightning based?

Hendersonville Lightning is headquartered in Hendersonville, United States, in the North America region.

How does Hendersonville Lightning make money?

Three revenue lines are on record. Print and Digital Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are advertising and classifieds and Legal Ads.

Who are Hendersonville Lightning's main competitors?

Nextdoor is listed as an others. Patch.com is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are The Transylvania Times, Black Mountain News, Smoky Mountain News and Mountain Xpress. Tryon Daily Bulletin is listed as a regional player. Broad incumbents are Gannett Co., Lee Enterprises and Asheville Citizen-Times (Gannett).

Does Hendersonville Lightning have an API?

No public API is recorded for Hendersonville Lightning.

What industry is Hendersonville Lightning in?

Hendersonville Lightning's product category is Local Newspaper. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJADAB, Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital). Its NAICS code is 513110 and its SIC code is 2711.