Simon Cowell regrets not keeping ‘One Direction’ name

Simon Cowell regrets he didn’t keep the ownership of the boy band One Direction’s name.

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

One Direction, which was assembled by Cowell with solo contestants on The X Factor in 2010 and went on to sell over 70 million records globally, included Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson.

However the group disbanded in 2016, one year after Malik, 31, left, despite the worldwide success they bagged.

Cowell explained why he regrets what he regrets, because touring can be a problem since if one of them didn’t want to do a reunion tour, because they still own the name.

“If it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem,” he noted, calling himself 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.”

Cowell also had a message for the former band members.

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