diff --git a/sql/mysqld.cc b/sql/mysqld.cc
index 896114f98c6..394dd3294de 100644
--- a/sql/mysqld.cc
+++ b/sql/mysqld.cc
@@ -648,7 +648,6 @@ static void close_connections(void)
   }
 #endif
   end_thr_alarm(0);			 // Abort old alarms.
-  end_slave();
 
   /*
     First signal all threads that it's time to die
@@ -664,6 +663,9 @@ static void close_connections(void)
   {
     DBUG_PRINT("quit",("Informing thread %ld that it's time to die",
 		       tmp->thread_id));
+    /* We skip slave threads on this first loop through. */
+    if (tmp->slave_thread) continue;
+
     tmp->killed= 1;
     if (tmp->mysys_var)
     {
@@ -680,6 +682,8 @@ static void close_connections(void)
   }
   (void) pthread_mutex_unlock(&LOCK_thread_count); // For unlink from list
 
+  end_slave();
+
   if (thread_count)
     sleep(2);					// Give threads time to die