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 Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery generated $3.56B of operating cash flow and $2.31B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 64.9% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) return via buybacks and dividends?

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

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$3.56B

Capex

-$1.25B

Free Cash Flow

$2.31B

FCF Margin

+64.9%

Cash flow waterfall for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $2.31B

Cash flow breakdown for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$3.56B	$3.56B
Capital Expenditure	-$1.25B	$2.31B
Free Cash Flow	$2.31B	$2.31B
Acquisitions	-$86M	$2.22B
Other Investing	$68M	$2.29B
Net Debt Change	-$2.53B	-$242M
Other Financing	-$567M	-$809M
Forex Effect	$411M	-$398M
Net Cash Decrease	-$398M	-$398M

Operating Cash Flow$3.56B
Capital Expenditure-$1.25B
Free Cash Flow$2.31B
Acquisitions-$86M
Other Investing$68M
Net Debt Change-$2.53B
Other Financing-$567M
Forex Effect$411M
Net Cash Decrease-$398M

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

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