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 eBay (EBAY) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, eBay generated $2.14B of operating cash flow and $1.69B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 78.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did eBay (EBAY) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

eBay (EBAY) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.14B

Capex

-$454M

Free Cash Flow

$1.69B

FCF Margin

+78.8%

Cash flow waterfall for eBay (EBAY) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.69B

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

Cash flow breakdown for eBay (EBAY) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.14B	$2.14B
Capital Expenditure	-$454M	$1.69B
Free Cash Flow	$1.69B	$1.69B
Acquisitions	$78M	$1.77B
Other Investing	$1.27B	$3.04B
Share Buybacks	-$2.38B	$659M
Dividends Paid	-$536M	$123M
Other Financing & FX	-$43M	$80M
Net Cash Increase	$79M	$79M

Operating Cash Flow$2.14B
Capital Expenditure-$454M
Free Cash Flow$1.69B
Acquisitions$78M
Other Investing$1.27B
Share Buybacks-$2.38B
Dividends Paid-$536M
Other Financing & FX-$43M
Net Cash Increase$79M

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

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