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 John Wiley & Sons (WLY) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q2 2026, John Wiley & Sons generated $261M of operating cash flow and $177M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 67.8% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did John Wiley & Sons (WLY) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent John Wiley & Sons's shareholder returns for TTM through Q2 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

John Wiley & Sons (WLY) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$261M

Capex

-$83.8M

Free Cash Flow

$177M

FCF Margin

+67.8%

Cash flow waterfall for John Wiley & Sons (WLY) — TTM through Q2 2026

Free cash flow: $177M

Cash flow breakdown for John Wiley & Sons (WLY) — TTM through Q2 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$261M	$261M
Capital Expenditure	-$83.8M	$177M
Free Cash Flow	$177M	$177M
Acquisitions	$112M	$289M
Share Buybacks	-$100M	$189M
Dividends Paid	-$74.4M	$114M
Net Debt Change	-$131M	-$16.5M
Other Financing & FX	$6.21M	-$10.3M
Net Cash Decrease	-$10.3M	-$10.3M

Operating Cash Flow$261M
Capital Expenditure-$83.8M
Free Cash Flow$177M
Acquisitions$112M
Share Buybacks-$100M
Dividends Paid-$74.4M
Net Debt Change-$131M
Other Financing & FX$6.21M
Net Cash Decrease-$10.3M

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

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

John Wiley & Sons (WLY) 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

WLY Overview

Counters

Income Statement

Cash Flow

Capital Return

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

Forecast & Valuation