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 Spotify (SPOT) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Spotify generated €3.24B of operating cash flow and €3.18B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 98.1% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Spotify (SPOT) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Spotify (SPOT) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

€3.24B

Capex

-€60.1M

Free Cash Flow

€3.18B

FCF Margin

+98.1%

Cash flow waterfall for Spotify (SPOT) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: €3.18B

Cash flow breakdown for Spotify (SPOT) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	€3.24B	€3.24B
Capital Expenditure	-€60.1M	€3.18B
Free Cash Flow	€3.18B	€3.18B
Other Investing	-€667M	€2.52B
Share Buybacks	-€692M	€1.82B
Net Debt Change	-€71M	€1.75B
Other Financing	-€1.38B	€372M
Forex Effect	-€238M	€134M
Net Cash Increase	€134M	€134M

Operating Cash Flow€3.24B
Capital Expenditure-€60.1M
Free Cash Flow€3.18B
Other Investing-€667M
Share Buybacks-€692M
Net Debt Change-€71M
Other Financing-€1.38B
Forex Effect-€238M
Net Cash Increase€134M

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

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Buybacks0.80% TTM

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