What is a cash flow waterfall?

A cash flow waterfall is a bar chart that walks from operating cash flow through capital expenditure to free cash flow, then shows how the remaining cash is allocated — acquisitions, buybacks, dividends, debt, and other financing — ending at the net change in cash. Each step is colour-coded: green bars add to the running total, red bars subtract.

How does Akamai Technologies (AKAM) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Akamai Technologies generated $1.58B of operating cash flow and $765M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 48.4% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Akamai Technologies (AKAM) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Akamai Technologies's shareholder returns for TTM through Q1 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$1.58B

Capex

-$815M

Free Cash Flow

$765M

FCF Margin

+48.4%

Cash flow waterfall for Akamai Technologies (AKAM) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $765M

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by purchases or sales of investments.

Cash flow breakdown for Akamai Technologies (AKAM) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$1.58B	$1.58B
Capital Expenditure	-$815M	$765M
Free Cash Flow	$765M	$765M
Acquisitions	-$55.9M	$709M
Other Investing	-$866M	-$157M
Share Buybacks	-$1.31B	-$1.46B
Net Debt Change	$276M	-$1.19B
Other Financing & FX	$713M	-$473M
Net Cash Decrease	-$473M	-$473M

Operating Cash Flow$1.58B
Capital Expenditure-$815M
Free Cash Flow$765M
Acquisitions-$55.9M
Other Investing-$866M
Share Buybacks-$1.31B
Net Debt Change$276M
Other Financing & FX$713M
Net Cash Decrease-$473M

Want to see what drove the FCF change?Free Cash Flow Bridge

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Buybacks7.83% TTM

How this company returns cash to shareholders — buybacks, dividends, and stock splits.

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