Simon Cowell reveals his biggest regret from managing One Direction

By Hannah Mcdonald

16:52 10 Jun 2024, updated 17:01 10 Jun 2024

Simon Cowell has revealed that his biggest regret from managing One Direction is never owning the name.

The talent scout, 64, created the boy-band – made up of Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson, in 2010 on ITV‘s The X Factor. 

Simon signed the band to his label Syco Music after the show wrapped and they went on to become one of the best selling boy-groups of all time. However, in 2015 Zayn left to pursue solo music and the remaining members split for good a year later. 

Speaking to Steven Bartlett on Monday’s episode of his podcast Diary Of A CEO, Simon revealed he regretted letting the band own the One Direction name – meaning he couldn’t continue its legacy after they broke up. 

‘The one thing I regret is I should have owned the name,’ he said. ‘They own the name. I could have made an animation or something.

‘So if you’re listening One Direction then I will buy it back from you!’

Asked by Steven if the pop stars each owned 20 per cent of the name, Simon said he couldn’t recall the exact arrangement but that new content, such as movies or TV shows, relating to the band couldn’t be approved without consent from each member. 

Simon is set to create a new competition this year to find the next big boy-band as he feels none since have matched One Direction’s success.

And after admitting his regret regarding the One Direction name, he vowed not to make the same mistake again this time around. 

He said: ‘That was me being very naive. Next time I need to own the name.’ 

Simon also revealed the first piece of advice he gave to Harry, Zayn, Niall, Liam and Louis as they embarked on their success.   

‘It was obvious as soon as they went on the show that they would be really really successful,’ he said. ‘They were the perfect group. They made a lot of money. 

‘I told them to never complain about paparazzi because they are going to take your pictures, don’t complain about invasion of privacy because people will always want to have a picture with you, don’t complain about the long hours. 

‘I told them if any of the above is going to be a problem then do something else because all this will happen. I told them about the gruelling schedule – it comes with the territory. It just comes with it, you will lose a lot of privacy.’

He added: ‘If you want to be an accountant you won’t have any of these issues but it won’t be as fun.’

On Tuesday, Simon was seen putting up a giant billboard of his own face in a bid to drum up publicity for his new show.

The music mogul surprised passersby in London as he erected the mammoth poster to launch his nationwide hunt for the next big boyband. 

Dressed in dungarees, the head judge got to work with a bucket and brush in hand. 

He left Londoners shocked as he proceeded to smooth out a giant poster of his own face alongside the words ‘Simon needs you. Future megastars wanted for new boyband. No time wasters.’

In March, it was revealed that filming was believed to have already begun in the UK in partnership with production company Box To Box films.   

Sources told The Sun that Simon was in a bidding war after first pitching the show, with Apple and Prime Video also keen to come on board.

However, they said he then moved to talks with Netflix and was ready to sign a huge deal, and had already joined forced with a PR firm to prepare to announce the show in the coming weeks.