Simon Cowell Doubts One Direction Will Reunite, Wishes He Could Still Profit Off Band’s Name

Simon Cowell wishes he could be making money off of One Direction’s name. In a new interview for The Diary of a CEO, the X-Factor judge credited with forming the group said he wishes he owned the band’s brand.

“The one thing I regret is I should have kept the name… I should have owned the name,” Cowell said, admitting the group owns the name of the band. “That’s the problem.”

Cowell said that he “doubts” Harry Styles, Zayn, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson will ever get back together for a reunion, but that if he owned the name he could possibly organize a tour with just some of the members.

“If one of the band members, for whatever reason, say they don’t want to tour, it can stop the others [from] touring,” he explained. “So, if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

He added, “I 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 called his decision not to own the band’s name “very naive.”

Cowell has been thinking a lot about 1D lately. The industry veteran will lead a reality show called Building the Band, which will capture Cowell putting a new group together nine years after One Direction officially disbanded to pursue solo careers.

“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,” Cowell said in a statement announcing open call auditions for the new show. “The industry tends to focus on solo artists — so it usually takes someone from outside to put a group together.”

Aside from One Direction, Cowell also helped form girl groups Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. Late last year, Rolling Stone confirmed that 5H (minus Camila Cabello) officially owned the Fifth Harmony brand after being owned by Cowell’s company.