diff --git a/zerver/lib/actions.py b/zerver/lib/actions.py
index 6a02e5cb31..dcc1a8ab0d 100644
--- a/zerver/lib/actions.py
+++ b/zerver/lib/actions.py
@@ -1951,16 +1951,52 @@ def get_peer_user_ids_for_stream_change(stream, altered_user_ids, subscribed_use
         # structure to stay up-to-date.
         return set(active_user_ids(stream.realm_id)) - set(altered_user_ids)
 
-def query_all_subs_by_stream(streams):
-    # type: (Iterable[Stream]) -> Dict[int, List[UserProfile]]
-    all_subs = Subscription.objects.filter(recipient__type=Recipient.STREAM,
-                                           recipient__type_id__in=[stream.id for stream in streams],
-                                           user_profile__is_active=True,
-                                           active=True).select_related('recipient', 'user_profile')
+class UserLite(object):
+    '''
+    This is a lightweight object that we use for highly
+    optimized codepaths that sometimes process ~30k subscription
+    rows when bulk-adding streams for newly registered users.
+
+    This little wrapper is a lot less expensive than full-blown
+    UserProfile objects, but it lets the rest of the code work
+    with the nice object syntax.
+
+    Long term, we want to avoid sending around all of these emails,
+    so we can make this class go away and just deal with user_ids.
+    '''
+    def __init__(self, user_id, email):
+        # type: (int, Text) -> None
+        self.id = user_id
+        self.email = email
+
+def query_all_subs_by_stream(streams):
+    # type: (Iterable[Stream]) -> Dict[int, List[UserLite]]
+    all_subs = Subscription.objects.filter(
+        recipient__type=Recipient.STREAM,
+        recipient__type_id__in=[stream.id for stream in streams],
+        user_profile__is_active=True,
+        active=True
+    ).values(
+        'recipient__type_id',
+        'user_profile_id',
+        'user_profile__email',
+    ).order_by(
+        'recipient__type_id',
+    )
+
+    get_stream_id = itemgetter('recipient__type_id')
+
+    all_subs_by_stream = defaultdict(list)  # type: Dict[int, List[UserLite]]
+    for stream_id, rows in itertools.groupby(all_subs, get_stream_id):
+        users = [
+            UserLite(
+                user_id=row['user_profile_id'],
+                email=row['user_profile__email'],
+            )
+            for row in rows
+        ]
+        all_subs_by_stream[stream_id] = users
 
-    all_subs_by_stream = defaultdict(list)  # type: Dict[int, List[UserProfile]]
-    for sub in all_subs:
-        all_subs_by_stream[sub.recipient.type_id].append(sub.user_profile)
     return all_subs_by_stream
 
 def bulk_add_subscriptions(streams, users, from_stream_creation=False, acting_user=None):