diff --git a/src/sql/parts/connection/common/utils.ts b/src/sql/parts/connection/common/utils.ts
index 445eac15e7..4a07c63301 100644
--- a/src/sql/parts/connection/common/utils.ts
+++ b/src/sql/parts/connection/common/utils.ts
@@ -88,19 +88,6 @@ export function parseNumAsTimeString(value: number): string {
 	return tempVal > 0 ? rs + '.' + mss : rs;
 }
 
-/**
- * Converts <, >, &, ", ', and any characters that are outside \u00A0 to numeric HTML entity values
- * like &#123;
- * (Adapted from http://stackoverflow.com/a/18750001)
- * @param str String to convert
- * @return String with characters replaced.
- */
-export function htmlEntities(str: string): string {
-	return typeof (str) === 'string'
-		? str.replace(/[\u00A0-\u9999<>\&"']/gim, (i) => { return `&#${i.charCodeAt(0)};`; })
-		: undefined;
-}
-
 export function generateUri(connection: IConnectionProfile, purpose?: 'dashboard' | 'insights' | 'connection'): string {
 	let prefix = purpose ? uriPrefixes[purpose] : uriPrefixes.default;
 	let uri = generateUriWithPrefix(connection, prefix);
diff --git a/src/sql/parts/grid/services/sharedServices.ts b/src/sql/parts/grid/services/sharedServices.ts
index 42d96d20de..c02292730a 100644
--- a/src/sql/parts/grid/services/sharedServices.ts
+++ b/src/sql/parts/grid/services/sharedServices.ts
@@ -3,14 +3,14 @@
  *  Licensed under the Source EULA. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 
-import * as Utils from 'sql/parts/connection/common/utils';
+import * as Strings from 'vs/base/common/strings';
 
 export class DBCellValue {
 	displayValue: string;
 	isNull: boolean;
 
 	public static isDBCellValue(object: any): boolean {
-    	return (object !== undefined && object.displayValue !== undefined && object.isNull !== undefined);
+		return (object !== undefined && object.displayValue !== undefined && object.isNull !== undefined);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export function hyperLinkFormatter(row: number, cell: any, value: any, columnDef
 		valueToDisplay = 'NULL';
 		if (!value.isNull) {
 			cellClasses += ' xmlLink';
-			valueToDisplay = Utils.htmlEntities(value.displayValue);
+			valueToDisplay = Strings.escape(value.displayValue);
 			return `<a class="${cellClasses}" href="#" >${valueToDisplay}</a>`;
 		} else {
 			cellClasses += ' missing-value';
@@ -44,13 +44,12 @@ export function textFormatter(row: number, cell: any, value: any, columnDef: any
 	if (DBCellValue.isDBCellValue(value)) {
 		valueToDisplay = 'NULL';
 		if (!value.isNull) {
-			valueToDisplay = Utils.htmlEntities(value.displayValue.replace(/(\r\n|\n|\r)/g, ' '));
+			valueToDisplay = Strings.escape(value.displayValue.replace(/(\r\n|\n|\r)/g, ' '));
 		} else {
 			cellClasses += ' missing-value';
 		}
-	} else if (typeof value === 'string'){
-		valueToDisplay = value;
-
+	} else if (typeof value === 'string') {
+		valueToDisplay = Strings.escape(value);
 	}
 
 	return `<span title="${valueToDisplay}" class="${cellClasses}">${valueToDisplay}</span>`;
diff --git a/src/sqltest/parts/grid/services/sharedServices.test.ts b/src/sqltest/parts/grid/services/sharedServices.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ebcee41727
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sqltest/parts/grid/services/sharedServices.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ *  Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
+ *  Licensed under the Source EULA. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
+ *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+
+'use strict';
+import * as sqlops from 'sqlops';
+import * as assert from 'assert';
+import * as SharedServices from 'sql/parts/grid/services/sharedServices';
+
+const testText = '<div>test text</div>';
+
+suite('Grid shared services tests', () => {
+	test('textFormatter should encode HTML when formatting a DBCellValue object', () => {
+		// If I format a DBCellValue object that contains HTML
+		let cellValue = new SharedServices.DBCellValue();
+		cellValue.displayValue = testText;
+		cellValue.isNull = false;
+		let formattedHtml = SharedServices.textFormatter(undefined, undefined, cellValue, undefined, undefined);
+
+		// Then the result is HTML for a span element containing the cell value's display value as plain text
+		verifyFormattedHtml(formattedHtml, testText);
+	});
+
+	test('textFormatter should encode HTML when formatting a string', () => {
+		// If I format a string that contains HTML
+		let formattedHtml = SharedServices.textFormatter(undefined, undefined, testText, undefined, undefined);
+
+		// Then the result is HTML for a span element containing the given text as plain text
+		verifyFormattedHtml(formattedHtml, testText);
+	});
+});
+
+function verifyFormattedHtml(formattedHtml: string, expectedText: string): void {
+	// Create an element containing the span returned by the format call
+	let element = document.createElement('div');
+	element.innerHTML = formattedHtml;
+	let spanElement = element.children[0];
+
+	// Verify that the span element's text, not its innerHTML, matches the expected text
+	assert.equal(spanElement.textContent, testText);
+	assert.notEqual(spanElement.innerHTML, testText);
+}
\ No newline at end of file