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 Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Live Nation Entertainment generated $2.41B of operating cash flow and $1.23B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 51.1% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$2.41B

Capex

-$1.18B

Free Cash Flow

$1.23B

FCF Margin

+51.1%

Cash flow waterfall for Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $1.23B

Cash flow breakdown for Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$2.41B	$2.41B
Capital Expenditure	-$1.18B	$1.23B
Free Cash Flow	$1.23B	$1.23B
Acquisitions	-$170M	$1.06B
Other Investing	-$90M	$974M
Net Debt Change	$1.96B	$2.93B
Other Financing	-$1.25B	$1.68B
Forex Effect	$239M	$1.92B
Net Cash Increase	$1.92B	$1.92B

Operating Cash Flow$2.41B
Capital Expenditure-$1.18B
Free Cash Flow$1.23B
Acquisitions-$170M
Other Investing-$90M
Net Debt Change$1.96B
Other Financing-$1.25B
Forex Effect$239M
Net Cash Increase$1.92B

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

LYV Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

Buybacks0.07% TTM

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

Forecast & Valuation