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 Mondelez International (MDLZ) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Mondelez International generated $3.89B of operating cash flow and $2.58B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 66.2% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Mondelez International (MDLZ) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Mondelez International (MDLZ) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$3.89B

Capex

-$1.31B

Free Cash Flow

$2.58B

FCF Margin

+66.2%

Cash flow waterfall for Mondelez International (MDLZ) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $2.58B

Cash flow breakdown for Mondelez International (MDLZ) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$3.89B	$3.89B
Capital Expenditure	-$1.31B	$2.58B
Free Cash Flow	$2.58B	$2.58B
Acquisitions	$118M	$2.69B
Other Investing	-$171M	$2.52B
Share Buybacks	-$863M	$1.66B
Dividends Paid	-$2.51B	-$849M
Net Debt Change	$270M	-$579M
Other Financing	$442M	-$137M
Forex Effect	$73M	-$64M
Net Cash Decrease	-$64M	-$64M

Operating Cash Flow$3.89B
Capital Expenditure-$1.31B
Free Cash Flow$2.58B
Acquisitions$118M
Other Investing-$171M
Share Buybacks-$863M
Dividends Paid-$2.51B
Net Debt Change$270M
Other Financing$442M
Forex Effect$73M
Net Cash Decrease-$64M

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

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