Simon Cowell Regrets Not Taking Ownership Of One Direction Name: “That Was Me Being Very, Very Naive”
Simon Cowell says he was naive when he signed One Direction and regrets not keeping ownership of the name.
Cowell formed the band on The X-Factor UK in 2010, hand-picking five contestants who originally auditioned as solo acts and giving them a second chance as a pop group. The band members were Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik.
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“The one thing I regret is I should have kept the name,” Cowell said on The Diary of a CEO podcast. “I should have owned the name.”
The America’s Got Talent judge said that the bandmembers own the group’s name and ultimately decide what can be done with it.
“If one of the band members, for whatever reason, say they don’t want to tour, it can stop the others [from] touring. So, if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem,” Cowell said. “I can be very naive at times, and that was me being very, very naive. 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.”
The former American Idol judge said that if he still owned the name, he “could have made an animation or whatever” and said he would want to “buy it back” from the guys.
Cowell was asked if One Direction would ever get back together, and the media mogul said, “I doubt it.”
One Direction became a worldwide phenomenon following their formation on The X-Factor UK in 2010. The band didn’t win the talent competition and placed third in Season 7.
Following the reality competition, the group released five studio albums. Malik exited the band in 2015, and the group went on an indefinite hiatus the following year to pursue solo careers.
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