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 KKR & Co. (KKR) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, KKR & Co. generated $7.06B of operating cash flow and $6.89B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 97.6% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did KKR & Co. (KKR) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

KKR & Co. (KKR) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$7.06B

Capex

-$167M

Free Cash Flow

$6.89B

FCF Margin

+97.6%

Cash flow waterfall for KKR & Co. (KKR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $6.89B

Note: Other Investing is large — driven mainly by acquisitions and investment activity.

Cash flow breakdown for KKR & Co. (KKR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$7.06B	$7.06B
Capital Expenditure	-$167M	$6.89B
Free Cash Flow	$6.89B	$6.89B
Other Investing	-$9.81B	-$2.91B
Share Buybacks	-$314M	-$3.23B
Dividends Paid	-$818M	-$4.05B
Net Debt Change	$3.09B	-$960M
Other Financing & FX	$2.05B	$1.09B
Net Cash Increase	$1.09B	$1.09B

Operating Cash Flow$7.06B
Capital Expenditure-$167M
Free Cash Flow$6.89B
Other Investing-$9.81B
Share Buybacks-$314M
Dividends Paid-$818M
Net Debt Change$3.09B
Other Financing & FX$2.05B
Net Cash Increase$1.09B

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

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