The whole thing is happening not because Uber needs to go public as a business, but that the people who bankrolled Uber needed an exit so that they could look like they were successful (smooth things out with the people who bankroll them.) Softbank took Saudi money to string it a long a few more months, but then Softbank needed an exit too.
Unlike Apple Computer, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Kodak, or many other great corporations, it was not at all about "let's get public funding so we can make a huge company and make public investors rich".
Thus it undermines the public markets themselves, the IPO process, etc. It undermines public confidence in capitalism. It makes a few people rich now at the cost of future prosperity.
Kudos to everyone involved...