Simon Cowell ‘Regrets’ Not Owning One Direction Name: ‘I’ll Buy It Back’

Even though Simon Cowell created One Direction, one of the most successful boy bands of all time, he still has one regret.

“The one thing I regret is I should have kept the name,” Cowell, 64, explained on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast on Sunday, June 9. “I should have owned the name.”

Cowell formed the boy band out of solo contestants on The X Factor in 2010. One Direction, which went on to sell over 70 million records worldwide, included Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson. Despite the band’s success, they decided to separate in 2016, one year after Malik, 31, left the group.

Cowell went on to explain that since the band members still own the name, if one of them didn’t want to do a reunion tour, it could “stop the others from touring.”

“If it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem,” he noted, adding that he was being “very naive” at the time. “So, next time, that will be part of the deal. I have to own the name. They can still make most of the money, but I need to own the name.”

After sharing that he “could have made an animation” if he had rights to the name, Cowell had a message to the former members of One Direction.

“If you’re listening, I’ll buy it back from you,” he said.

Since disbanding in 2016, the members of One Direction have since gone on to find success in their own solo careers, and Cowell is now on the hunt to find a new boy band. The former X-Factor judge put out a call to action earlier this month with a billboard in London to announce his search for musicians for a new group.

“Every generation deserves a megastar boyband, and I don’t think there has been one to have the success of One Direction in over 14 years,” he shared in a press release earlier this month. “The industry tends to focus on solo artists – so it usually takes someone from outside to put a group together. Nothing beats the fun of being in a group, touring the world and performing for thousands – and it’s also a brilliant launchpad for a solo career.”

The statement shared that Cowell will be hosting auditions across England and Ireland this summer and is looking for “talented males aged 16-18 who possess the passion, charisma, and star quality to form the next boy band sensation.”