Simon Cowell has revealed his one “regret” about creating One Direction.
The music mogul and TV personality has opened up about the one mistake he made while managing the former British boy band.
During Monday’s episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast, Simon reflected on his greatest career achievements, including the formation of One Direction on The X Factor in 2010.
The X Factor creator and judge formed the band – made up of Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne – after they all auditioned as solo artists.
During the podcast episode, Simon told host Steven Bartlett that he regretted not owning the band’s name.
“The one thing I regret is, I should have kept the name,” the 64-year-old admitted.
The entrepreneur then added that the What Makes You Beautiful singers have the rights to the name.
“That’s the problem,” he continued. “Could have made an animation, or whatever, but when you give an artist the name, it’s not yours – and that’s my only regret.”
He then jokingly addressed the singers, “If you’re listening, I’ll buy it back from you.”
Simon went on to explain that Harry, Liam, Zayn, Louis and Niall have equal ownership of the name.
“If one of the band members, for whatever reason, says they don’t want to tour, it can stop the others touring,” he said. “If it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem. 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.”
One Direction went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Simon “doubts” they will ever reunite.
Last week, the music mogul launched a talent search to find a new boyband.
